This article was written by a participant of the EDSOR Peace Camp from the Immaculate Conception Academy.

EDSOR Peace Camp: 10 For 2010, Ten Acts Of Patriotism!
By Angelica Yang, Grade 7-Unity
League of Leader Chronicles for Immaculate Conception Academy 2009-2010

What is a hero for you? Your ideal hero is responsible, determined, disciplined and of course, patriotic in a sense that he doesn’t have to sacrifice his own life but make a difference in his own way. A perfect example would be Ninoy Aquino. Imagine all the hardships and criticism that he faced during his journey. He even wanted to “die a meaningful death than live a meaningless life” because living won’t be worth it if you don’t make the most out of it.

Day 1

It was seven thirty and all of us were gathered at Gate two of ICA. We were all excited for this once-in-a-year event sponsored by ICA, Xavier, Poveda and La Salle schools. We walked through the Mary The Queen Parish, the church that divided ICA and Xavier. We took a long walk to Gate 14 of Xavier school. We entered and deposited our bags in the baggage room. After that, we proceeded to the auditorium, which was buzzing with people.

Before we got into our seats, we had to register and sign our names in a sheet of paper. After doing so, we got our respective pins that had our nicknames.

We were also given hot chocolate and cookies to munch before the whole ceremony.
After we ate such a scrumptious snack, we all stood up for the flags of the different schools, the EDSOR flag and the flag of the Philippines.

A very uplifting and inspiring song was sung by Xavier boys. “All Good Gifts” taught us how to appreciate God’s blessings for us. We must “thank the Lord for all good gifts” because those blessings will help us become better people in all aspects of life.

All the participants sat down and listened to the acknowledgements to people who have made EDSOR possible.

The EDSOR revolved around two iconic heroes namely Cory Aquino and Ninoy Aquino. The two hosts started with a bang, that got everyone’s attention and said “EDSOR is one of the most prominent youth camps. We want you to be happy”, they said as they showed an anniversary clip of EDSOR. In the clip, we saw all the pictures of all EDSOR camps. From 2000-2009, all camps were a success because they were effectively able to promote peace.

Ms. Jane Cacacho, the principal of Xavier high school, gave the opening remarks. “Hope among participants lies a hero/heroine of Filipino people. It is more than events. It is an eye-opener to realities and it is a matchstick to kindle. Who will be the next Cory Aquino or Ninoy Aquino? We must bring home a heart full of love”

After his very touching speech, Mr Rafael Lopa, the president of the Benigno Aquino Association, also gave a nice speech. “To speak before the young people is a priceless experience. It is sacrifice and giving yourself for one country. We are not expected to die but each one of us is to deny our comfort zones. We must feel that calling for us and see what is outside of ourselves. We are often faced with challenges that make us give more. Ninoy Aquino gave more. I hope that you will discover the spirit of sacrifice. Prove to the future generation that we can make good choices”. It is very good advice from a president of a foundation. He really started the ball rolling!

Mr Jake Argon gave us another speech. This speech was about being in EDSOR. “Being in EDSOR is a privilege. We hope you can fully develop their potential. You can show your concern and patriotism.”

After those speeches of the various people, we moved on to our classrooms and met our group mates. The groups are named according to the traits of a real leader in Filipino (eg. malinis, masipag, masikap)

We went to our respective classrooms and met our camp mates. We were all nervous at first because we did not know each other well yet but due to the activities that our facilitators provided us, we were able to make friends with others. So all I can say is that EDSOR is not only for honing your leadership skills but also build your socialization skills with others. Imagine being in a room with all representatives from different schools. We got to know them more and you can discover hidden things that you have in common.

For about an hour and a half, we talked about our lives to each other and played simple interaction games. We also got EDSOR 2010 booklets for our notes.

The school bell rang and we rushed down as a group to the auditorium. We were going to watch a movie about Ninoy Aquino. It was entitled “The Last Journey Of Ninoy”. But before we had the film viewing, we played a trivia about Ninoy Aquino. Each person who got the correct answer gets a free iamninoy or iamcory pin. We had loads of laughter and fun just trying to race to the microphone to answer.

But we had to be serious when the movie showed. It was the story of the places he went before he died. It was a bit like his “biography” in politics because there were even interviews from Cory Aquino about him. On of the few lines from the documentary that triggered our spirit was “Marcos killed democracy, he did not save it. I want to prove to him that my indomitable spirit will take sacrifice for my people”. Cory said that being imprisoned for seven years and seven months was a learning process for him. Ninoy included that before martial law, he believed in God plainly but in detention, it changed him so much. “You can imprison his body but you cannot imprison his soul. My spirit will soar. I may not redeem my freedom here but I will redeem it elsewhere”

“If I leave, I shall return.”

“If I die, I die.”

“We should not depend on one man, we should depend on all of us. All of us is all expendable in the cause for freedom and therefore I say stand up now and be a leader, and when all of us are leaders, we will expedite the cause of freedom”, were his last words. The documentary showed that the “Filipinos were worth dying for” and that we must continue his legacy; to continue fighting for freedom. Just like what Pedro Yap said, “Ninoy Aquino was the best president we never had”

It was a tear-jerking movie but we really learned a lot from it. At twelve o clock, we ate lunch in the High School Xavier cafeteria. We ate by our groups. We ate chicken, vegetables and some dessert to go with it. Of course, our meal cannot be complete without a musical so the Xavier band decided to put a little show for us. We loved their Filipino rock and pop music.

Next, we had our amazing race which was called “The Quest”. We had to work with our teammates in a specific time limit. We went to different stations and experienced what Ninoy and Cory feel as a leader to their country. It was tiring but fulfilling. Each quest was finished with unity and friendship among the groups. That proves that true leaders don’t only lead but they are also good followers.
After the Amazing race, we were given the closing remarks and said good bye to our newfound friends, hoping to see them the next day again as future leaders.

Day Two

We took the same route again to Xavier and we were much more energized. We registered and took our picks of hot chocolate or cookies to munch on.

After munching on them, we had a prayer, as usual. “The Prayer Of Generosity” was our gratitude to God for giving us so many blessings.

To start our day right, we had a Xavier Filipino teacher who came up to the stage and taught us how to do the Chuga dance. It was some sort of an exercise that kept us awake for the whole day. Xavier had the loudest cheers.

Boom Enriquez said that we leaders must have love and spirituality in order to have sacrifice and heroism. He talked about the new Ninoys and Corys in Ondoy. “We’re here to have these values and they will emanate from you. Heroship and journey is a promise. We need to start it now. We will be the ones living heroically for your country/dying for your country. We want to help we’re too young”. He showed us a clip on the iamninoy movement. It shows that we may be young but it doesn’t mean we cannot make a difference. “Loving the country is cool for kids nowadays. We have the spirit of sacrifice. We want to build on the avenue for you to do good for the country”. Heroism is a choice to make everyday.

After that, we had an interaction between real youth leaders. Our speaker was Mikaela Johanna Millar. She said that we must know ourselves first and we must learn to love ourselves. When we learn these, we get to do small acts of heroism but they can spur big effects in others’ lives.

We went back to our classrooms with our tribe mates. We had to come up with a role play. In each of the role plays we did, we had to portray a certain act of patriotism. They were livelihood, Education, Governance, Environment and Nationalism. There were ten groups so two groups were assigned on one act.

We had our break and ate our lunch. We had Max’s fried chicken. We went back to our classroom afterwards.

We finally ended our last group bonding with a bundle of laughs and slip-ups but we vowed to each other that we would do well in the performance.

The performance was at the Xavier Lecture room. All ten groups presented it so nicely and were given a thumbs-up for a good job.

We went to the auditorium and had our Eucharistic mass. Our mass presider was a campus priest. We all felt united as we sang and prayed to God for peace and justice to reign our land.

Mrs Flora Alfonso, the assistant principal for Xavier school, gave some of the closing remarks. “We were chosen because of our ability to live. We must touch lives just like what Ninoy and Cory touched others’.

Mrs Lourdes dela Cruz, the student affairs coordinator said “We challenge you to do something good for your country and make a difference. See you at Poveda on 2011”

EDSOR is a very spectacular and life-changing event that budding leaders have to experience so they can learn how it feels like to be put in the shoes of a leader. Not only that but also meet new friends. So fellow Filipinos, follow the footsteps of Ninoy and Cory Aquino by being nationalistic and patriotistic in your own way. Who knows? You may be the next Ninoy or Cory.