"With the youth being the hope of this country, it becomes all the more imperative for us to take action now, to mold their minds with the right values and morals, before it is too late," says Advocates For Youth Philippines Foundation founder/president Cyndy Tan-Jarabata on the creation of CLUB K Teen Portal during its launch at the UP Bahay ng Alumni last month.

Club K, which stands for Kabataan, Kalusugan, Karapatan, is the youth organization of the Advocates for Youth (A4Y) Philippines Foundation in partnership with Music Television (MTV), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and Wolfac Mobile, Inc., a subsidiary of Smart Communications, Inc., as its official service provider.

Last month, the newest teen portal was finally ingrained to the young public’s senses as it sponsored a free pre-Valentine concert that went along with the launch of its SMS portal and website at the University of the Philippines Diliman’s Bahay ng Alumni .

Shaking the usually quaint and silent dome with their upbeat tunes and amplified sounds were the country’s hottest bands today like Imago, Sandwich, Kjwan, Pedicab, Kapatid. The mini-concert, headed by Club K’s Angela Litton and hosted by Club K’s very own external affairs officer Marylaine Louise Viernes, along with UP’s funny duo Cannu and Arkel and Miriam College’s Pebbles, just drew the crowd of hard-rock punks, Original Pilipino Music (OPM) lovers, alternative listeners, and ordinary students into frenzy. Yet, the event was not merely for fun, games, and music, but for something greater.

Music was not the only thing people got for free as A4Y founding president and organization founder Cyndy Tan-Jarabata herself addressed the crowd, talking openly about issues concerning the youth like sex, discrimination, and others. Problems and concerns pervading the youth’s minds were answered with no extra cost and minus the stigma attached to such questions as the aforementioned.

"The thing about sex is that we seldom – or perhaps, never – talk about it," says Tan-Jarabata before the mostly teeners in the audience.

"As part of our campaign to prevent teenage pregnancy and HIV/AIDS through roadshows, mini fairs and campaign trails in schools, malls and communities, we recently formed this national youth network that will be the specialized arm of A4Y in addressing the needs of the youth, especially during their volatile teenage years. It is geared at giving the youth a chance to make responsible decisions."

Sandwich

"Basically, Advocates for Youth wanted to concretize or focus more on the youth on sex-related issues, reproductive health, responsibilities and rights," says Club K public relations officer Michelle Ancheta, who also attended the event. "With Club K, we can teach, remind and advise the youth."

Club K members, which has swelled to 12,000, and officers are composed of high school, college and university students with a common goal of promoting and advocating responsible decisions for the betterment of society.

During the MTV campaign, four volunteers were chosen and, after undergoing screening and interviews, eventually became officers. Eighteen-year-old Edmund Grey, a first year Bachelor of Science in Economics and Advertising Management major at the De La Salle University–Manila (DLSU–M), is Club K president while Armando Ricardo Aguado, also 18, and a first year AB Psychology student at the Mapúa Institute of Technology (MIT) is club vice president.

Ancheta, 19, has been with A4Y for two years now. The third year AB English Literature major at the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), is the grand prize winner of the 2004 Essay Writing Contest on Teenage Pregnancy sponsored by A4Y & MEG Magazine and was later hired as a features writer for MEG Magazine.

Viernes, 18 and third year B.S. in Secondary Education Major in English Applied Linguistics student at DLSU–M is the first runner up of Miss Teen Philippines 2005, and a feature writer of MOD Magazine.

The four elite officers have likewise been appointed by UNAIDS and MTV as their HIV-AIDS youth ambassadors.

Funded by the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), Club K is designed to act as a "youth hub" on resources, education and activities that will involve the youth in productive and worthwhile endeavors.

"With the youth being the hope of this country, it becomes all the more imperative for us to take action now, to mold their minds with the right values and morals, before it is too late," stresses Tan-Jarabata.

(For more information, log on to www.youthadvocates.net and www.clubk.ph.)