CALD Secretariat Welcomes New Team Members

The Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats Secretariat welcomes three fresh faces to its passion-driven team in its permanent headquarters in Manila.

Mr. Paul Kristofer Rafael joins as Project Officer for Climate Change, Ms. Kristina Uy Gadaingan as Program Officer, and Ms. Lucy Adam as Intern.

Mr. Rafael joined CALD last March 2013. He previously worked with the United Nations Information Centre Manila. He graduated from the University of Santo Tomas with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. He also previously attended the 2013 Programme on the United Nations and Global Challenges at the Institut de hautes etudes internationales et du développement (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies) in Geneva, Switzerland.

“It is both an honour and a privilege to be working with CALD, more so, to be afforded with the unique opportunity to work closely with its members, partners, and other like-minded individuals within the network in the collective pursuit of a more liberal and democratic Asian society – towards one goal in unison”, said Mr. Rafael.

Commenced working for CALD only for the past week, Ms. Gadaingan is the new Program Officer of the CALD Secretariat.  She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Science Major in Area Studies – Asia, from the University of the Philippines Manila. Ms. Gadaingan previously worked with the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform (IPER) under various positions (Project Staff and later became Program Officer for Training and Education). She is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Public Administration at the National College of Public Administration, University of the Philippines Diliman.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to take an active role in working in an organization that binds together the agenda of a liberal, sustainable, and democratic Asian society”, Ms. Gadaingan shares.

Youngest among the team, Ms. Adam currently works as a CALD Intern and will be with the Secretariat for the next two months. She recently completed her IB Diploma graduating at Bangkok Patana School in Thailand in June. Her interest for working in the CALD Secretariat is driven by her interest in Asian politics having grown up in multiple Asian countries. She hopes to be accepted into the University of Melbourne in 2014 where she would like to major in politics and international relations.

“I am very excited to be part of the planning for the upcoming CALD-ALDE Meeting in November having already seen what a conference can consists of since attending the CALD-Youth Conference in Bangkok this year”, said Ms. Adam.

While others argue that three (3) is more likely to be crowd, a Schoolhouse Rock series’ episode counter-argues and asserts that “Three is a Magic Number”. And as for the new members of the CALD Secretariat’s case, 3 is a formidable force that reckons to bring a different kind of drive and energy towards the fulfillment of CALD’s agenda and key priorities.