Editing POCHOLO GONZALES (section)

== Youth Advocacy ==

[[Image:International Youth Parliament.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Gonzales raising the flag of the Philippine at Sydney City Hall together with other Filipino youth. He's attending the International Youth Parliament in Sydney, Australia in 2004]]

Early in his career, Gonzales helped to found Voice of the Youth. For more than four years, their radio program aired for two hours each Sunday, giving young people the opportunity to voice their ideas and opinions on a range of issues impacting their lives. At present, VOTY has grown into a collaboration of youth organizations in nearly all provinces of the country, with the goal of providing networks, tools, resources, and recognition for youth leading positive change in their communities.

He has said that he sees great promise in utilizing communication technologies to strengthen youth participation, networking, collaboration and leadership, believing that multi-media—radio, TV, newspapers, mobile phones and the Internet - are powerful tools to inspire, inform, and involve youth towards empowerment.

In 1998, Gonzales became an active youth coordinator and the youngest participant of the 2nd National Youth Parliament (NYP), a biennial assembly of youth representing various sub-sectors and geographical groupings nationwide to develop a legislative-executive agenda for youth development. In 1999, he became a delegate of the Medium-Term Youth Development Plan which served as a guide for government agencies in the implementation of youth-related programs.

He participated in the 27th Ship for Southeast Asian Youth Program in 2000. In 2001 he was chosen by other youth leaders to represent his region for the 1st National Youth Summit or Pambansang Ugong Ng Kabataan (PUNK), a project of the National Youth Commission and Department of Social Welfare and Development. The topics and problems discussed were then documented and presented to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

In 2003 he helped organize the Philippine celebration of [[Global Youth Service Day]] held in Balara, [[Quezon City]] on April 11–15. He was the main reactor and discussant for the Fifth National Social Science Congress (NSSC V), held May 15–17. He was one of the top participants for the Young Leaders Program of the [[National Defense College of the Philippines]] Institute for Extramural and Continuing Studies, and the youngest delegate and awardee of the 8th Open Conference on Cooperation for Responsible Citizenship and Corporate Governance. On June 12, 2003, he received a Youth Action Net Award given by the [[International Youth Foundation]].<ref>http://www.iyfnet.org/uploads/ACF209.pdf</ref>

[[Image:International Youth Foundation.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Gonzales in front of Lincoln Monument in Washington D.C. USA with other International Youth Foundation, Youth in Action Awardee from around the world. Circa 2003]]

He was one of the speakers and facilitators during the 3rd International Youth Conference held at Philippine Normal University and Malacanang Palace, led by the United Nations Association of the Philippines (UNAP), the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization-Associated Schools Project ([[UNESCO ASPNet]]), and [[Philippine Normal University]] (PNU).

In 2004 he attended the World Youth Peace Summit in [[Bangkok]], the International Conference on Youth Empowerment in [[Hong Kong]], and the 2nd International Youth Parliament in [[Sydney, Australia]]. He also won the Youth in Action Award given by the Global Youth Action Network in [[New York City]]. That year, he was invited by the Office of the President to work with the Youth Affairs Office under Marc Castrodes, then became Office of Presidential Assistant for Youth Affairs under Dennis Cunanan, which became the Youth Arm of the President of the Philippines to promote a Strong Republic; he traveled the Philippines as a representative of this office. After the election of 2004, he was detailed at the Commission on Higher Education as Staff.

In 2005, he founded the Society of Young Voice Artists of the Philippines, an organization that promotes voice acting as an art. That year, he was one of the ten Filipino Delegates who was chosen to represent the Philippines to the Young Global Citizen of the British Council in [[Jakarta]], [[Indonesia]].

He also participated in Filmart Hong Kong in 2006, Gwangjung ACE Fair in South Korea in 2007 and CommunicAsia/BroadcastAsia in Singapore in 2005.