1. Who is your favorite Filipino leader, and why?

There are a lot of great Filipino leaders that I have encountered already, but
one of my favorites is the person who contributed and imparted so much to who I am
today as a leader as well. Ate Chiara Cimeni, the SMART President for the Academic
Year 2020-2021 is and will always be a person I will look up to as my role model.
Working with her as the SMART Secretary last year catalyzed the unfolding of the
leadership skills I never knew I could acquire. During her term, she made sure that in
our day-to-day tasks and activities in the organization, we, lower years, would be
somehow trained and prepared to be the future leaders of SMART. Personally, she
gave me so much inspiration and motivation to become the leader I am today. Aside
from these, it was her strong faith in me of becoming a great leader that could
successfully spearhead SMART in the near future that pushed me to be better and
deserving of the position I currently have. Lastly, I consider her one of my favorite
and best leaders because I believe that she has the ten qualities a leader should
possess, as stated in the learning guide according to Veridiano and its co-researchers. I
witnessed how passionate, committed, and dedicated she is in her service as a leader
and a senior to us. Above all, despite her colorful and flying achievements both as a
leader and a scholar, she remained humble and grounded. She is indeed a
transformational and visionary leader who has influenced not only my life, but the
lives of many young people in our community.

2. Based on the discussion of Filipino Leadership, what characteristic do you think is the
most important, and why?

I think the most important characteristic of Filipino leadership is being may

puso or having the heart to lead. I believe that having the heart to lead encompasses
all the other characteristics of a good and significant leader. Having the heart to lead
means being passionate, committed, driven, people-oriented, competent, and sensitive
enough to serve for the general good, betterment, and sustainability of the body,
people, public, and the nation. If one has the heart of being a leader, then that person
is a true leader.