Boyet Dy:  I work as training manager of the Asian Institute of Management TeaM Energy Center for Bridging Societal Divides.  The Center that I work with is one of the research centers of the Asian Institute of Management.  What we do in our center is we provide leadership development and training for public sector leaders such as mayors, governors, even military officials and civil society organizations.  We try to help them by equipping them with more and better skills, knowledge and tools so that they can be more effective in doing their work as leaders in terms of improving the quality of life of the constituents that they serve. 

Jay-R Patron:  How is a typical day at work to you like? 

Boyet Dy:  It depends because a lot of the work that we do is workshops and trainings.  There really is no typical day, because if there is a workshop that has to be prepared then we have to do all the work that has to be done—from preparing the design of the workshop, from coordinating with the resource persons and the faculty who teach, from something as complex as that to something more simple like preparing the name tags and preparing the registration sheets.  At the same time, workshops are not the only things that we do.  We also have research work.  We also have efforts to really write down the things that we’re learning, the processes that we use so that we can make the process of sharing what we do to other people better.  It’s a mix of preparing for workshops to writing, doing your writing and case writing work also, a lot of meetings not only to prepare for workshops but also to conceptualize the programs that can be done.  It’s a mix.  We travel a lot because most of the training that we do are not in AIM but in the sites of the leaders that we work with.  Our center has a lot of work in Mindanao because the center believes that Mindanao needs a lot of help compared to other regions in the country.  The poorest provinces are in Mindanao so we do a lot of work there. 

Jay-R Patron:  Reading through your CV I see a lot of accomplishments, who or what has influenced you to think and act the way you do? 

Boyet Dy:  I think from a very early age I have always had the conviction of whatever it is your responsibility, at any point in your life, you have to do it in the best and most excellent way you can.  That has always been my perspective.  When I was a student my thinking was, “At this point in my life my responsibility is to be a student and because this is my responsibility I owe it to my parents, the people who support me, and to God to be the best student that I can be.”  That is really the perspective that bring even today to the work that I do.  Whenever one has a responsibility, one has to do it in the best way he or she can.  Part of it also is spiritual because I think I’m very much conscious of the things that are in my life, that are happening.  And the best way to say thank you to such a good God, to such a loving God is to be best in what I do.  That is my way of really saying thank you not in words but in actions.  So maybe those two things, that frame of mind, that perspective that whenever one has been given a responsibility, one has to do it in the most excellent way one can, and also the perspective that being grateful for the many things that God has bestowed on me, the least that I can do is to do my job well. 

Jay-R Patron:  Let’s talk about the socially-veered organizations that you’re involved in, Duyan ng Giting and OneTama.  Will you talk about those organizations? 

Boyet Dy:  There can be no OneTama if there is no Duyan ng Giting.  How did Duyan ng Giting start?  I have a friend, his name is Emman, he’s the one who was supposed to join us, we have been friends since grade school and then after college, sometime in 2007, because we graduated in 2006, Emman and I were having a discussion over YM and he asked me out of nowhere, “Do you know that quote from Jose Rizal na ‘Ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan’?”  And then he posed the question, “Why do people always assume that that refers to the future?  Na ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan, oo, pero hindi ngayon.”  Why don’t people start to believe na ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan ngayon.  For my friend, Emman, Rizal’s famous quote is not a call for the youth to prepare but a call for the youth to do something now because we are the hope.  And that has got us thinking.  We said, “If we believe that the youth can be the hope now, what can we do?”  As a start we said, “Why don’t we bring together a group of people, young people our age who thought that same way and let’s just open the discussion to them?”  I mean post that question also saying, “the youth can be the hope now, what can we do?”  As a start, because it was a diverse group of individuals from different backgrounds—we have members doing marketing, members doing PR, members doing banking, members like me doing development work—it’s a good mix and at the start the consensus was, “If only this group can be an opportunity for us to sustain each other’s sense of idealism then it’s worth it.”  Because coming from college we all had that sense of idealism that for one reason or another, the work environment does not nurture or provide opportunities for you to even just talk about your sense of idealism, and that was what we felt very valuable in the group.  Whenever we meet, it was opportunities to share your dreams for the country, it was opportunities for you to share your frustrations about the different problems our society faces.  Especially the guys who come from corporate, they value that very much because in the corporate world, they don’t get that opportunity.  That was really the purpose of the group.  If only this can be an opportunity for us to continue talking about the country and retain each other’s sense of idealism.  We call it Duyan ng Giting, of course it is a reference to the Philippine national anthem, there’s a line there, Duyan ng Giting, but as it moved along we felt that ‘parang sayang eh’.   We have this group and we have this energy.  While it’s good that we can have these discussions and retain each other’s sense of idealism, in a sense the model there is, “How can we support one another so that in our own life of work, we can continue to be good Filipinos?”  But over and above that, “What can we do together?  What is this something that we can do concretely, that we can channel this collective power and energy?”  And then the idea of doing OneTama came along, how did it start?  I was driving to work one day and I was listening to the soundtrack of Moulin Rouge, and one of the songs in the soundtrack is the Elephant Love Medley and one of the songs there is the David Bowie original, Heroes, and for some reason that morning when I was driving to work I was struck by a phrase in that song, “We can be heroes just for one day”.  It got me thinking, “Oo nga noh, what if Filipinos can be heroes just for one day.”  If you ask any Filipino, if he or she wants a better country for himself or herself, of course the answer will be yes.  So if all of us say we want a better country, why don’t we try living in that better country even just for one day if we commit that all of us will be heroes just for one day.  Heroes meaning we will be the best citizens that we can be, follow rules, etc.  At the start that was the idea, to do a Hero for a day where we would set a date and on this date Filipinos will commit to be the best citizens that they can be.  I pitched it to the group and they liked the idea so we started developing it.  The other important milestone in the development of OneTama was Ideals-Creatives.  It just so happened that Marielle and I talked at the same event because we got invited to talk at this same event.  I found out about the work of Ideals-Creatives, which is also fantastic work, and I just thought of broaching the idea to Marielle.  We did that.  We set up a meeting to broach the idea and they really embraced the campaign and they really believed in it very much.  They were really very instrumental in breathing life in to the campaign because they were the ones who packaged it and developed the website.  OneTama is OneTama now because of the artistic intervention and the vision of the people from Ideals-Creatives.  So that brought us to OneTama, to what it is now.  At the start, we did not have any idea about setting up a website.  It’s set up now.  At the start our idea was as simple as to identify one day and let’s be good Filipinos in that one day, but now, thanks to the vision and intervention of Ideals-Creatives, it has become more sustainable because there’s a facility to get more information about what people are trying to do, how many people are doing it, things like that. 

Jay-R Patron:  What do you do in your free time? 

Boyet Dy:  Now I do a lot of OneTama-related work, of course the website needs a lot of upkeep in terms of…because we get a lot of suggested actions that we have to look into because we give descriptions to the actions.  Whenever we see a good action that is suggested, aside from uploading it we also do some research kung baga to make a case in doing that action.  I like watching movies.  That’s something I do in my free time.  Of course going out with friends, hanging out with friends.  I like to read, that’s something that I do also during my free time.  I follow TV series, quite a few TV series that I download regularly.  Those are the things that I do during my free time.  

Jay-R Patron:  How do you balance work and play? 

I’m the type of person who consciously does not do work once I’m out of the office.  That’s something that is very consistent to how I was balancing my studies and my extra-curricular work when I was still studying.  When I was still studying I made it a rule that as long as it’s Saturday I will not make anything school-related or student council-related.  Saturday was for spending time with my girlfriend and do recreation work.  I think it’s sustainable that way.  It gives you the opportunity to refresh.  And that’s the same thing that I do.  As much as possible I don’t do work once I’m out of the office and during the weekend.  That’s how I balance it. 

Jay-R Patron:  Where did you grow up? 

Boyet Dy:  I grew up in Quezon City. 

Jay-R Patron:  How many are you in the family? 

Boyet Dy:  Three.  We are three, I am the youngest.  Three boys. 

Jay-R Patron:  How was childhood to you like, growing up in that kind of family setting? 

Boyet Dy:  My dad died when I was in Grade 3, I was nine years old.  But from the very start I was very close to my mom because even when my dad was still alive he wasn’t really with us anymore because he had another family.  If you’ll ask me, I cannot remember one single conversation I’ve had with my dad because during my conscious years he was not living with us anymore and he died when I was very young.  That’s one important factor in my childhood life.   Another one is, I’m really not that close to my two brothers but they’re close to each other because they share the same interests, they have the same group of friends.  Those are the important things in terms of how I grew up as a child. 

Jay-R Patron:  How much of an influence is your family in your upbringing, not just your family but also your relatives, people from your immediate circle? 

Boyet Dy:  I have always been interested in leadership and that has been very clear to me.  As early as Grade 5 I was already running for a student council position.  This is interesting because to an extent the only thing that I know about my father is that he was a leader.  He was a politician.  I come from a political family.  To an extent, it was really my fiancée who pointed this out to me that maybe my deep interest in leadership is influenced by the fact that it is the only thing I know about my father and in a sense, getting to know more about leadership is getting to know about my dad.  Even now in my line of work we do leadership development and that is something that I have energy for.  This love for leadership, this interest for leadership is pretty much connected to my family background.  

Jay-R Patron:  How much of an influence is the Ateneo to you? 

Boyet Dy:  Of course my answer is a lot.  But in terms of articulating how it did influence me, siguro through different stages eh.  For instance, as early as grade school, all of the things that I’ve always appreciated about Ateneo is that it has always been outward thinking.  Your education must mean something not only to you, your immediate family, but also to the greater population especially those that are in need.  It has to mean something to them.  From the very start that has been very clear in Ateneo, the whole “Man for others” mantra.  At the same time, when you go to college the Man for others transforms in to “Professionals for others” because part of the assertion there is any profession can be dedicated, can be a contribution to nation building so long as there is a conscious effort.  Even if you’re not in the type of work that is directly development-related such as my work, even if you’re in banking, even if you’re in the corporate field, to what extent can you maximize that profession so that that profession becomes part of nation-building?   It is something that I have always valued and I think Ateneo has taught me that.  It also reinforces the whole notion of you being excellent in your work.  One of the things that is very important in the Ateneo is that it’s not just about service.  It’s service with excellence.  It’s serving in the best way that you can.  And part of serving with excellence is going where there is greatest need.  Having that consciousness to offer what you have, what you know, what your skills are to those that are in greatest need.  I think those are some of the things that have influenced me in how I’m living my life now and in what I’m trying to do. 

Jay-R Patron:  Beyond institution and family, who would you consider as your greatest mentor? 

Boyet Dy:  I had a teacher when I was in high school, Mr. Pagsi, Onofre Pagsanghan.  He has been teaching at the Ateneo high school by now for more than 50 years.  I believe that the best mentors are the mentors who can really bring out the best in you and who can really give you challenges so that the best of all that you can be can be brought out.  That has really been the case with Mr. Pagsi.  He was my teacher in first year high school and at the same time I joined Dulaang Sibol, which he moderated.  Dulaang Sibol is a theater group but it’s a formation-based theater group.  It’s really, “How can you use theater to form individuals in terms of values, excellence?” 

Jay-R Patron:  And this was in Ateneo high school?   

Boyet Dy:  Ateneo high school.  I was an Atenean since grade school.  I think what Mr. Pagsi did for me was he saw my potential and he believed in supporting me, to really make that potential flourish.  I think that’s what really a mentor should be able to do. 

Jay-R Patron:  What to you is being Filipino? 

Boyet Dy:  To me, to be Filipino is really to do your part to do something for the country.  This really ties up to what OneTama is all about.  We believe in OneTama that each day is really loaded with opportunities to do something concrete, to do your part in making this country a better place, and to be a Filipino means consciously looking for those opportunities, and seizing them.   

Jay-R Patron:  What importance do you see in what you do? 

For instance in development work or in NGO work, people usually think that it’s about making a lot of programs, building a school, those are also very important, but it’s also very important to work with the leaders and do something about their perspectives and capacity and vision as leaders, because if all we’ll do is build schools, the hard development projects, and we don’t do anything about the leaders who are supposed to be providing those services in the first place, I don’t think that’s sustainable.  That’s what I appreciate about our work here in AIM because we tackle the leadership problem.  We try to address, we try to work with our leaders so that they can be in a better position to provide the services so that in a sense NGOs don’t have to come in to a municipality or a city to provide the services that are absent because for instance the local government unit is not providing it in the first place.  I think that’s the value, the importance of what we’re doing in the TeaM Energy Center.  That’s one aspect, the leader.  But the other aspect is the regular folk.  What do you do about the regular citizens?  I think that’s the value of OneTama because it’s all about citizenship.  It’s all about challenging people to think of what you can do, what can be your contribution to make your immediate community a better place?  For me that’s how I see the world I’m moving around in now.  I’m doing something in terms of the leaders, and I’m doing something in terms of the common folk, the regular citizens.  My hope is that because of better leaders and better citizens, they can work together to make greater impact. 

Jay-R Patron:  What to you is the essence of being a leader? 

Boyet Dy:  I love the Filipino language and I love the Filipino word for leader which is “pinuno” because for me ang isang pinuno ay isang taong pumuno para pumuno.  So there are two aspects to that.  Una, the leader kailangan pinuno.  The leader has to be conscious and deliberate in equipping himself or herself so that he/she can be the best leader he/she can be, so that he/she can be the most effective leader possibly.  But at the same time, there is no leadership in a vacuum.  Leadership is always towards something or for something.  For me leadership is about pamumuno, pumumuno in two very distinct ways and this is really rooted in one of my earliest experiences as a young leader.  When I was in Grade 5, it was my first time to be elected as class president and I had a classmate who had an eye sickness.  One of his eyes had a fake pupil and kept on watering.  One particular lunch time two of my classmates, and you know how rowdy young boys can get, were very harsh really in teasing this classmate of mine.  They were calling him names like Cyclops and one-eyed monster and other nasty things, and I saw that.  That situation spoke to me in two ways.  First, why was my classmate who had an eye sickness being hurt and being teased for something that is not his fault?  Why was he suffering for something that is not his own doing?  That’s one aspect to it.  The other way that situation spoke to me was, can these two classmates of mine who were teasing my other classmate do better?  Can they be more than teasers?  That’s how I have understood leadership since then.  Leadership is all about seizing opportunities to protect when something or somebody is being hurt, and leadership is about seizing opportunities to challenge people if something more can be achieved if something better is possible.  Kaya siya pamumuno.  Pamumuno kung may kakulangan sa pag-aaruga, sa pag-protekta, pamumuno kapag may kakulangan sa pwedeng maabot, sa mas higit na pwedeng maabot na hindi naaabot.  And then I found out when I went to college, when I was active in the student council, it was the same two challenges.  When we were in college, it was the time when Gawad Kalinga was very active in partnering with Ateneo, and Gawad Kalinga is all about pamumuno sa kakulangan ng pag-aaruga—giving people home, shelter; trying to make better quality of life for the people.  At the same time, whenever there are typhoons we organize these taskforces so that we can give donations to those affected by the typhoon.  Again, that is protecting when somebody is harmed.  In terms of challenging when something better is achieved, whenever we came out with statements because of political controversies, whenever we joined NAMFREL for their operation quick count, it’s really challenging:  we can do better politics than the politics that we have now.  We can have better elected leaders than what we have now.  It’s the same two things and until now that is how I understand leadership.  Even in the work that we do for instance my first work when I came in the TeaM Energy Center was to work with two municipalities in Nueva Vizcaya, Bayombong and Sta. Fe, and same thing, protecting and challenging.  Protecting, one of the things that we did in partnership with Jollibee Foundation in Bayombong is to come up with an in-school feeding program because a lot of the pupils are really below normal in terms of their weight.  At the same time, part of what we do is, can the different stakeholders of the municipality work together to address their concerns.   Again that is challenging, leadership as challenging.  We can do better governance than what we’re doing now.  For me, to make the long story short, the essence of leadership is ang pinuno ay isang taong pumuno upang pumuno. 

Jay-R Patron:  Personally, who would you consider as exemplary leaders of our time? 

Boyet Dy:  I derive a lot of hope from our local government officials.  There are a lot of brilliant and fantastic mayors in particular and even governors.  For instance, Gov. Josie dela Cruz of Bulacan.  I did my internship there in Bulacan and I really saw firsthand her inspiring nature and skill as a leader.  In our work at AIM, we get to work with a lot of mayors and we find a lot of goodwill in these mayors, they really want to do something for their municipality and what’s good about a mayor or a local government unit is that they have inherent resources and manpower to do something because the bureaucracy is there and the funds are there.  If they will only choose to do something for their community, nothing’s stopping them.  For instance, one of our fellows, because we have a fellowship program, is Mayor Sonia Lorenzo of San Isidro, Nueva Vizcaya, who is part of Kaya Natin, and at the same time Mayor Florante Gerdan of Sta. Fe, Nueva Vizcaya, who is also part of Kaya Natin now, I really derive a lot of inspiration from the local leaders.  When people ask me of who the leaders I look up to, I look for real people, I look for people who actually do something that I know and that are inspiring.   

Jay-R Patron:  What has been your greatest challenge and how did you overcome that? 

Boyet Dy:  Very interesting question.  I had my moments of doubt because when you’re in this business of leadership, it’s one thing to make that decision to lead, it’s another thing to get other people to make that decision as well.  You’re always confronted with questions like, are you truly making a difference? Is what you’re doing truly meaningful?  Those are the very… here in AIM sometimes you hit it off with leaders that you work with but sometimes you don’t get that energy.  Sometimes you have those moments of doubt, “Will I push on with this?”  There are two things that keep me doing these things.  The first is, one of my favorite stories is the Starfish story.  There is a young man they say who sees a lot of starfishes on the beach.  What he does is pick up a starfish and throws it back at the ocean.  There is an old man who sees him doing that.  The old man approached the young man and says, “What are you doing?  There are a lot of starfishes on the shore.  What difference can you make?”  And to answer that question, what the young man does is pick up a starfish, throw it back at the ocean, face the old man and say, “At least I made a difference in that starfish”.  And that’s one thing I hold on to.  I think we have to learn to celebrate small victories.  We have to learn to celebrate these little stories of success and inspiration and hold on to these stories and keep reminiscing the stories so that we can move forward and continue with things.  The other one, linking it back to my spirituality is, I think you have to literally take heart in the example of Christ’s own leadership.  Christ died a failure, based on the standards of the world.  He died a criminal, but that act on the cross continues to make a difference until now and the meaning of that act on the cross was not extinguished even by death.  I think you have to hold on to that hope also, to that spirituality because anything good is a participation in Christ’s own goodness.   

Jay-R Patron:  What would you consider as your greatest achievement so far? 

Boyet Dy:  I’m particularly proud of… siguro two things.  Connecting it back to what I was saying a while ago that parang I have involvement in terms of the leadership and involvement in terms of the citizens.  In terms of my involvement in leadership, I am particularly proud that I have been part of the change that happened in Sta. Fe, Nueva Vizcaya because that was my first work out of college and the mayor of Sta. Fe is Florante Gerdan, the one that I mentioned a while ago, and it was really fantastic the transformation that happened in him personally as a leader and how that expanded to how things are being done in Sta. Fe now and I am proud to have been part of that.  I don’t claim that it is an achievement that I was responsible for but I’m very proud and inspired that I have been part of that change in one municipality.  Of course I’m also very particularly proud of OneTama because to an extent OneTama is very consistent with my core beliefs.  From the very start, part of what we have to do is we have to re-think of our idea of change and how it will happen in this country because on the one hand, we often look up to personalities and great leaders, a Barack Obama type of leader that will inspire us, that will capture our imagination and that will lead us to some place better. On the other hand, I think we also have long looked around for big events like EDSA, all the while assuming that at the end of that event, change will happen.  But I think we have to begin looking finally at the mirror, “What right can I do?”  and then breaking that mirror so that you can go out and do that right action and serve as mirrors to others so that they will be challenged to do that action as well.  That is really the essence of OneTama.  It asks to us, “What right can I do?” and eventually, “What right can we do together?” because while thinking and acting rightly as individuals is great, OneTama dares us to imagine that thinking and acting rightly together can be greater.  I guess those two things.  I’m very proud to have been part of these two things that are making changes in the country. 

Jay-R Patron:  You mentioned earlier the quote from Jose Rizal, “Ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan”, why do you think is it important for the youth to look beyond what they can do as mere students and consider themselves as part of society who can effectuate change? 

Boyet Dy:  The youth has always been accused of being apathetic, but for me this apathy and this non-movement is not so much about because the youth don’t care, but I think it’s a crisis of powerlessness.  The youth have this notion na, “kahit naman kumilos ako, even if I do something, wala namang epekto yan eh.”  And I think that’s what we have to attack here.  I think the youth has to recapture their conviction that they have power that they can do something, not only as individuals but more importantly if they harness their collective power to do something, then the possibility is endless.  I think that’s what’s important for the youth to realize.  If they will choose to act, meron patutunguhan yun, especially if they choose to act together.  If the youth begin to realize that then they will begin to see also that their sphere of influence is not necessarily just in their school but society in general. 

Jay-R Patron:  What to you is your purpose and passion in life? 

Boyet Dy:  I think it’s really constantly making myself an instrument for change to happen in this country.  Within all the context that I’m present in, and whenever there is an opportunity the question that I always ask is, How can I be an instrument of change in this country?  Perhaps it’s really the source of my passion. 

Jay-R Patron:  Do you have any quotes, sayings that you live by? 

Boyet Dy:  Nothing in particular naman but I’m actually quite fond of quotes… 

Jay-R Patron:  Let me rephrase the question, has there been a moment in your life where someone has told you the right words at the right time that has changed everything, that has changed the course of your life? 

Boyet Dy:  Mr. Pagsi has a lot of quotes.  He has been telling us a lot of things.  I’m trying to remember one quote.  It’s like, “Love your calling with passion because it is the meaning of your life.”  Of course that is something that has influenced me a lot.  There is a particular quote, I don’t memorize it word per word, but something to the effect of, “There is nothing more that I want in this life than to turn the world in my heart in to a reality.  And if I could contribute to turning that world in my heart into reality in the outside world, then I can rest,” something like that. 

Jay-R Patron:  Something to do with passion din. 

Boyet Dy:  Something to do with passion talaga. 

Jay-R Patron:  If there was one message out of what has been discussed tonight, what would that message be? 

Boyet Dy:  Open your eyes because… I’m really convinced that if we just open our eyes within our everyday living, there are things that you can do to make this country a better place, only if you choose to see those opportunities and choose to do something about it. 

Jay-R Patron:  That ends the interview.