IN THEIR BID to “answer” the Outstanding Filipinos and National Teachers Month Strategic Communications challenge, students from the San Beda Junior Marketing Association (SBJMA) were granted the “Award of Excellence for the Outstanding Filipinos Campaign” at the Penthouse of the Manila Doctors Hospital, Ermita, last April 30. 

Equipped with their award-winning outputs, the SBJMA Philippine Association of National Advertiser’s Foundation (PANAF) team—comprised of Mark Cruz, Ciaz Victoria, Maurice Lapira, Lee Samson, Chelsea Nicole Dantes, Julian Ralph Roxas, and Justin Angelo Vinluan, together with their Mentor and Coach, Asst. Prof. Greg Borja III, MBA, CPME—were set at demonstrating their knowledge and skills to face the challenge set forth by the PANAF, in collaboration with the Metrobank Foundation Inc. (MBFI). 

“This is quite challenging because it’s a step up a notch from the PANAnaw Brands communications awards,” Prof. Borja averred, as he iterated the processes leading up to the challenge. Accordingly, only ten participating school finalists from last year’s PANAnaw Brand Communication Competition were invited to compete in the PANAF-MBFI challenge. 

Comparing the PANAF-MBFI challenge to last year’s PANAnaw, Prof. Borja shared that preparation time was shorter. He maintained further that gathering information proved “more difficult” this time around, given that Metrobank was a private entity in contrast to last year’s challenge which revolved around a DepEd concern. Met with these challenges, he asserted that the key to overcoming such, were “proper planning and time management.” 

Describing the team’s outputs, “Makabagong Bayani” and “Makabangon Bayani”, Prof. Borja mentions that they were “tailor fit” to the categories featured in the challenge, with the former pertaining to the “outstanding Filipinos” case while the latter for the “national teacher’s month.” Elaborating on this, he says that “Makabagong Bayani is actually a campaign to uplift the stature of our Filipinos to inspire them to help more members of our society. It gives honor to those particular nominees and how to highlight them.” 

Sharing the lessons they have learned throughout the challenge, he provides that the team has become “more comfortable” when dealing with difficult tasks, saying “Metrobank made us feel that it’s not a competition anymore. It’s more on your contributions to society, and how [you can] make an impact.” Furthermore, he aspires that through the recognition received by Team PANAF, Marketing students would be “emboldened and inspired” to brave the challenges set before them, “Now, Bedans can be more confident of themselves, that they can actually achieve something and make an impact if they dedicate and commit themselves to learning and love for the country,” added Prof. Borja. 

Moving forward from the MBFI-PANAF challenge, Prof. Borja states that the team has their eyes set on the upcoming PANAnaw awards 2024. He states that, given the time constraints building towards the event, preparations must be made at the earliest convenience, making use of the fact that the competition will commence in November.  

In preparation, Prof. Borja further expressed the importance of involving students from the lower years in formulating teams, hoping that, through a gradual process of integrating competitions to the classes, they would be encouraged and inspired to join.