“Project GenZine was just an idea before but because of the Positive Youth Development Network, it turned into a reality.” This was shared by Charles Niel Tupas, the executive head of the Project Genzine as he trudges his way on his own pedestal. According to them, Positive Youth Development Network Incorporation is the Philippines’ pioneering youth development and accrediting network dedicated to building strong, socially-aware and sustainable youth organizations responsive to the evolving needs and opportunities of the country. Project GenZine is derived from; "Generals" and "Zine". The former came from “The Generals’” which refers to the people in GenSan and the latter is from “magaZine” where they will publish their own magazine in September that centers about the awareness in HIV/AIDS which then be distributed to schools, libraries, and even digital platforms.
Project GenZine is a national finalist of Young Heroes Initiative-High Five (YHI-HF) by the Positive Youth Development Network (PYDN). Charles recalled that from 50 aspiring teams, they conquered the search and are now part of the Final 6. According to him, the YHI-HF started in September 2020 and they were announced as part of the Final 6 last December thus they finally started in January. Project GenZine’s founding members are as follows; Charles Neil Tupas (Executive Head), Frances Royce Ofracio (Finance Committee Head), Dohniero Lozano (Creative Media Committee Head), Anna Mariel Wakat (Communication Committee Head), and Clyde Almaden (Mentor). Their team at first was composed of 5 members but as they grow and widen, they already have 55 members.
Charles said that their team is the pioneer of the YHI-HF. And for their batch, they focus on HIV/AIDS Awareness with a goal to raise awareness for the said health issue. “Our team’s twist that makes us unique is through campus journalism wherein our members, who are writers, are from different secondary schools in General Santos.” Through campus journalism, the scope of their target audience has become wider and larger to proliferate important plethora of information. Charles believes that sex education should be adhered the call of teaching to younger generation as they are the ones who are in the prone of such societal issues and sex education is a one way to address the alarming cases about overpopulation, teenage pregnancy, and HIV/AIDS.
Charles also added that our situation right now, where everyone is at the comfort of their own homes and where the rights to proper education is limited and insufficient, younger generations tend to act beyond and without their initial knowledge about these uncertainties thus societal dilemmas continue to elevate. Charles foresees if the pandemic didn’t happen, their team would move and serve better for the welfare of the younger generation. He said that they would have more people to serve and will become more productive. On the contrary, the pandemic didn’t halt Charles to engage and participate more in achieving greatness and their goals.
He himself had gone through various outreach programs wherein they visited far-flung areas in GenSan to give food packs and he’s also part of an organizing team that caters youth events. He’s been part of different councils and organizations that continue to hone and develop his leadership skills and continue to build youth empowerment and engagement. He left such astonishing remarks, “To all the Filipino youth, your cooperation is a must. Let's all work together in aiming a better Philippines. We have a lot of ideas, and we are very creative and passionate in doing what we love. Let's be a responsible citizen, we should follow the law, and help our government as much as we could.”
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