IBF Champ Donaire, CNN Hero Penaflorida, The Journey vocalist Pineda to join delegates of Bagumbayan launch and confab on April 27

IBF IBO flyweight champion Nonito Donaire, Journey frontman Arnel Pineda, CNN Hero Efren Penaflorida, and Chikka.com creator Dennis Mendiola are guests of honor at the launching and convention of Bagumbayan at the Manila Hotel on April 27.

Leon Herrera, president of Bagumbayan – Volunteers of a New Philippines (or Bagumbayan), made the announcement as he expects over 1,500 delegates and guests to attend the movement’s Grand Launching and National Convention.

“We are very elated that people have come forward to join our movement, it is truly an encouraging sign. We welcome everyone who believes in our vision of a new Philippines that is ennobled, enabled and free, who believes in change,” he said.

Bagumbayan boasts of about 30,000 card-bearing member-volunteers across the country, representing all sectors of the Philippine society who believe in the ideals and values of volunteerism and in the strong Filipino values.

Since its inception in 2007, it has been actively engaging in projects aimed at ensuring honest and free elections, ending conflict in Mindanao, uplifting the standard of public education, creating livelihood opportunities, and ensuring better disaster preparedness. 

Recently, it has sought the Commission on Elections (COmelec) to accredit them as a political party so that it can more freely campaign for leaders that the group believes will be able to promote its vision of a new Philippines.

Donaire recently defended his International Boxing Federation (IBF) and International Boxing Organization world flyweight titles with a fourth-round technical knockout of erstwhile unbeaten Mexican Raul “Cobra” Martinez. 

According to Herrera, Donaire rose from a skinny kid who was bullied but chose to train to become a professional boxer that eventually brought him international fame he is enjoying today.

He also cited Pineda who rose from obscurity to international fame by believing in himself and his talent. 

From an early age, Pineda believed that his talent would lead him to the fulfillment of his dreams and one of them was to become the lead singer of the band Journey. He auditioned and in 2007, he was recognized as Journey’s new lead singer.

Penaflorida, for his part, founded the Dynamic Teen Company with three other teenagers from Cavite National High school in August 1997. The other founders are Jefferson Bernal, Mary Jane Causarin, and Rezcel Fajardo. 

The group started as a friendship club which aimed to divert the attention of students from joining violent gangs and notorious fraternities that were thriving on the campus. 

It made history with its project called Kariton, Klasrum, at Klinik (K3) project which started as a pedicab outreach program in 2004. The group designed the (kariton) pushcarts to be converted into a classroom with a library, chairs, tables, chalkboards, packed with school supplies and educational toys to be used in teaching. 

“This and other projects caught the attention of international community and Penaflorida was nominated to be a CNN Hero,” Herrera pointed out.

Mendiola is the President and CEO of Chikka.com, an internet based messaging system that enables users to send text messages for free to cellphones anywhere in the world. 

Before gaining this acclaim, Mendiola was one of several US-educated whiz kids who volunteered to help Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman Richard Gordon build the abandoned US Naval base into an economic powerhouse.

The Bagumbayan Movement Grand Launch and Convention is the culmination of more than a year’s worth of work spent in formally organizing the group. 

Members of the core group traveled far and wide to get in touch with various individuals and groups who in believe in Bagumbayan’s ideology of transformational politics. (30)