PH Consul General in Chicago Meets Filipino Young Leaders Program Midwest Representatives

Consul General to Chicago Gina A. Jamoralin (third from left) with (from left) Consul Ryan Francis D. Gener, Ms. Elle Ramel, and Mr. Everett Francis P. Icao of FYLPRO 2019. (Chicago PCG)

Chicago 30 October 2019 – Consul General to Chicago Gina A. Jamoralin met Filipino Young Leaders Program (FYLPRO 2019) Midwest participants at the Kalayaan Hall of the Philippine Consulate General in Chicago on 23 October 2019.

Consul General Jamoralin congratulated Mr. Everett Francis P. Icao and Ms. Elle Ramel, who were selected to participate in the FYLPRO Immersion Program in the Philippines in November 2019.

Consul General Jamoralin and the Midwest representatives of FYLPRO 2019 discussed the latter’s planned legacy projects. Consul General Jamoralin encouraged them to learn as much as they can from their upcoming trip to the Philippines and expressed readiness to assist them in implementing their legacy projects. Mr. Icao and Ms. Ramel will soon be joining a distinguished group of former FYLPRO alumni, who joined the FYLPRO program since it began in 2012. FYLPRO Chicago has been a partner of the Philippine Consulate General in some of its projects this year.

Mr. Icao, a working law student and scholar at Loyola University, is an alumnus of the first Midwest Youth Leaders in the Diaspora (YouLeaD) program held last January. He currently holds leadership positions in community organizations, and is actively involved in the cultural and community work of the Consulate. He shared that he will return to the Philippines in the spirit of continuous learning and collaboration with his fellow Filipinos. He enthusiastically shared new ideas to catalyze change and strengthen the connection between Filipino youth leaders in the United States and the Philippines, including efforts to reinforce the YouLeaD program, and to build playgrounds throughout the Philippines through Gawad Kalinga.

Ms. Ramel, who studied at Yale University and University of Cambridge, has discharged immense responsibilities in the private and public sectors. She has also held leadership positions in non-profit and community ventures. Inspired by the experiences of her own relatives, she shared that as a way to promote Philippine culture and provide genuine care for the elderly, she plans to curate Filipino cultural and food programming that would be available to retirement and nursing homes in Chicago. She was also keen on supporting the Consulate’s efforts to bridge cooperation between Chicago and counterpart cities in the Philippines, and to encourage the Filipino-American community to become more involved in mainstream public and policy affairs. END

For more information, visit https://www.chicagopcg.dfa.gov.ph, https://www.chicagopcg.com or https://www.facebook.com/PHinChicago/.