Vice President Leni
Robredo at the Cebu City Hall.
“ISTORYA ng Pag-asa,” a project initiated by Vice President Leni Robredo, is now here in Cebu.
Speaking at the Cebu City Hall on Saturday, Robredo explained that it was the youth sector who inspired her to change the everyday conversation in the country as they were tired of hearing negative news every day.
“A few weeks ago, naimbitahan ako (I was invited) in a youth forum. The youth were telling me that they have been feeling beaten and depressed by all the negativity around them and they wanted to do something about it,” Robredo said.
She said that the group of young people told her that they were so tired hearing the news that they decided not to open the television nor read newspapers anymore.
The Vice President said that every time she visited places in the country, she always asked the public what they felt about the “current conversations” in the country.
In this era of post-truth, fake news, trolls and alternative facts, Robredo said people can have hope in the midst of hopelessness simply by talking about positive things that are happening around us in spite of all the negativity and hatred going around.
“We can choose light over darkness. We can have hope in the midst of hopelessness. We cannot wait for hope to find us. We need to find it ourselves, and give it a place to stay in our hearts and our minds,” the Vice President said in a speech.
Robredo noted that that by changing the conversation, good news and successful stories can change moods.
“Istorya ng Pag-asa is born out of this need to change the national conversation,” Robredo said.
The project will highlight successful stories of ordinary people and change the narrative of the country, said Robredo.
The Vice President further explained the essence of the program.
“Hope is the only thing stronger than fear. … We need to feed it with extraordinary stories of ordinary people around us. And we need to tell stories of hope to our people, wherever they are,” she said.
“We need more of it to nourish our sense of dignity as a nation, to build our people’s trust in liberty and freedom and to fight for truth in an age of lies,” she added.
Cebu City Women’s Commission Chairwoman Leah Japson said that they are now looking for inspiring success stories within Cebu City to be featured in the program.
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