By JCI Mem. Angelo Daniel R. Parcon
2007 President - JCI Cebu-Mactan Channel

Early this month I had the great privilege of being invited to participate in the Philippine Junior Jaycees National Convention here in Cebu City.  It was excellently hosted by the University of San Jose-Recoletos "Jaguar" Junior Jaycees, undoubtedly one of the most active chapters in the entire nation.  Our Local Organization of regular JCI members, Cebu-Mactan Channel was quite fortunate enough to be very involved with the conduct of the entire National Convention.  Our General Legal Counsel, JCI Mem. and Attorney Mae Elaine Bathan, is the adviser of the host Junior Jaycee Local Organization while our Special LOM Adviser and member Lorelei "Maimai" Dasmariñas is also a concurrent adviser to the Jaguars.

Observing the National Convention of the Junior Jaycees brought back a flood of memories for me from all the Area Conferences and National Conventions I attended as a Junior Jaycee during the late 90's.  It was because of my stint in the Junior Jaycees that made my love for the JCI movement etched in stone.  As a Junior Jaycee, I grew to believe in the movement and its core principles.  Much to the chagrin of many, I joined the Junior Jaycees with the intent of purely getting acquainted with and at least eliminate my apparent fixation of the fairer gender back in college.  I never would have thought that I would reach the level in the organization within our chapter which I have acquired now.  I still believe that it is in the Junior Jaycees where we, the regular JCI members, can and will see excellent future members in our respective chapters.  It was one of the thrusts in my Presidency that as part of our recruitment program, I would entice former colleagues in the University of San Carlos Junior Jaycees to become regular JCI members themselves.  Up to now, the 2008 administration of our President, Jolex Lim is enjoying the benefits of having former Junior Jaycees in the roster of members.  Not to discriminate against those who have just joined the JCI movement in their professional years, but it is in the Junior Jaycees where you get to learn the passion and determination that is essential to the success of a project or an organization.  It is in the Junior Jaycees where you learn to love the organization for its people and its principles.  When we were students, we were after all, very idealistic in almost everything we do.  It is in the Junior Jaycees where you learn not just to memorize the JCI Creed, but rather you learn to live by its principles and tenets.  It is in the Junior Jaycees where your passion to the organization is steeled.

It just pained me to see the actual reality which the Philippine Junior Jaycees organization faces nowadays.  Gone were the days where the National Convention and the Area Conferences were grand and very much anticipated gatherings that would rival even national student congresses that are held every year.  Gone are the years when we, Junior Jaycees, would cramp in sooooo many activities within a three-day period and by sheer initiative, squeeze in more activities that are very warmly recieved by ALL delegates.  Gone were the days when the Area Awards and the National Awards were considered the pinnacle of success for every chapter where each and everyone would fiercely compete just to gain the nod of the Awards Judges.  I understand that this alarming decline in the membership and passion for the Junior Jaycees was brought about by the boom of the technological age.  Friendster, Counterstrike, Multiply, YM, Ragnarok now occupies the fancy of youngsters.  The idea of having fun and learning at the same time in the spirit of brotherhood and camaraderie is a notion lost among most if not all of the younger generations.

It is a sad reality that the luster and the grandeur of the Junior Jaycees has begun to fade.  I shudder at the thought when the organization that has brought and trained so many successful JCI members in the regular membership would die an untimely death.  This juggernaut of a dwindling interest in the Junior Jaycees would continue unless we, the regular JCI members, would act.  The leaders of the Philippine Junior Jaycees are indeed making actions and programs that will address this decline but they can only do so much.  We, the regular members, to whom these youngsters look up to, should provide the needed guidance and assistance that is needed to shore up their organization.  Not necessarily stating that we give them financial assistance in order to help them with their funding.  In fact, some of our chapters also need the necessary funding to support our respective projects.  However, there is a need for us to make a paradigm shift in how we view the Junior Jaycees.  I'm sure a lot of regular JCI members who themselves were former Junior Jaycees would agree with me on this notion.  Instead of simply branding them as "manpower" to help us achieve success in our projects, we should learn to see them as partners in our programs.  By making them involved in a wider scope, more than just as augmentation to the operations teams in our projects and programs, let us allow them to be much more involved.  Instead of having our chapters bask in the glory of conducting a project with the Junior Jaycees as manpower, let us make them partners in our projects.      In doing so, we are allowing them to observe, learn and practice how we conduct our programs.  As the old saying goes, let us teach them how to fish instead of simply giving them fish.

Let us, the regular JCI members, whom these Junior Jaycees view as the kuyas or ates in the movement, take a more active role in reviving the interest in the Junior Jaycees.  It is in the Junior Jaycees where future JCI leaders are molded and trained to perfection.  Wherever your JCI chapter is, partner with as many Junior Jaycee chapters as you can.  If there are no Junior Jaycee chapters in your area, better yet, form a chapter!  Perhaps the National Organization can even come up with more programs or incentives for JCI chapters that would take an even more active role in the formation of the Junior Jaycee organizations in their respective areas.

The Junior Jaycees are calling for our help.  Let us not ignore their plight.  To all former Junior Jaycees in JCI Philippines, let us encourage our respective LOMs to be more active in extending a helping hand to the organization we so loved during our youthful years as students.  They need our help.

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