NORSU youth tackle West Philippine Sea, impeachment trial

DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental — Hundreds of Negros Oriental State University students are set to join discussions on the West Philippine Sea, online disinformation and the Senate impeachment trial on Monday, Aug. 17, as the GenZennial Tour: We Decide the Future arrives in Dumaguete City.

Organized by Team Pinas, the event seeks to move young Filipinos beyond passive consumption of political content on social media by giving them opportunities to question claims, debate national issues and develop informed positions.

The initiative comes as young voters increasingly encounter political information through digital platforms, making media literacy and civic engagement important to how they understand questions involving national sovereignty, government accountability and democratic institutions.

The Senate impeachment court has been conducting the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, with official Senate records showing proceedings had reached their 15th trial day on Aug. 12.

Team Pinas described the GenZennial Tour as a youth-driven civic experience rather than a conventional lecture, designed for a generation that gets news from TikTok feeds as well as newspapers.

Students will participate in fireside chats, touchscreen myth-busting quiz stations, a Digital Freedom Wall for real-time reactions and P-pop-styled light stick voting.

The activities will center on two national issues: narratives surrounding the West Philippine Sea and the Senate impeachment trial.

For the West Philippine Sea discussion, Dr. Sherwin Ona, associate professor in the Department of Political Science at De La Salle University, and Dr. Gary Ador Dionisio, dean of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde School of Diplomacy and Governance, will examine the role of TikTok in shaping competing narratives about Philippine sovereignty.

The discussion will also focus on how young Filipinos can distinguish factual information from what organizers describe as foreign-fed disinformation.

The West Philippine Sea remains a major Philippine foreign policy and security issue, with the country continuing to invoke the legal and diplomatic significance of the 2016 South China Sea arbitral award a decade after the ruling.

Human rights lawyer Atty. Dino De Leon will lead the session titled “Bantay Senado and Impeachment Trial.”

The session will explain what the Senate impeachment trial means for ordinary citizens and why closely following the proceedings can be considered part of democratic participation rather than an issue confined to lawyers and politicians in Manila.

“These are not abstract issues happening far from Dumaguete. What’s decided in the Senate and what’s shared on TikTok directly shapes the country these students will inherit and lead. Our job is to make sure they’re not just scrolling past it. They’re questioning it, discussing it, and forming their own informed stand,” said Dr. Gary Ador Dionisio, Lead Convenor of Team Pinas.

The Dumaguete leg is being held in partnership with NORSU.

NORSU President Noel Marjon Yasi will deliver the welcome remarks.

NORSU youth leaders will also co-anchor the fireside conversations alongside members of the Team Pinas Core Team.

The Dumaguete event forms part of Team Pinas’ nationwide effort to organize local chapters of civically engaged “GenZennials” and turn one afternoon of discussion into sustained community participation.

Team Pinas is a network anchored by leaders from OCTA Research, Momentum Research and the Philippine Society for Public Administration.

The organization describes itself as a multidisciplinary network of Filipino scholars, policy practitioners, educators, legal experts and civic leaders working to strengthen democratic participation through evidence-based public engagement, civic education and youth leadership initiatives.

Through programs such as the GenZennial Tour, Team Pinas aims to make civic participation more accessible, engaging and relevant to the next generation of Filipinos.