Who’s next? TOYM search for new generation of change makers is on

MANILA, Philippines — Long before Manuel V. Pangilinan became one of the country’s most influential business leaders, his name had already made it to a distinguished roster of young Filipinos.

The same is true for business leaders Lance Gokongwei, Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala and Bienvenido “Donnie” Tantoco III.

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They share another distinction: all four were once recognized by The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) of the Philippines.

Now, the decades-old institution is searching for the next generation of Filipinos who could leave a similar mark.

JCI Philippines, together with the TOYM Foundation, has opened the 2026 search for Filipinos aged 18 to 40 who have made significant contributions to their professions or communities.

This year’s theme, “Honoring the change makers who will sustain the future,” looks beyond achievement at a single point in time.

Instead, TOYM is seeking people whose work could produce an impact that lasts across generations.

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The organization describes its prospective honorees as catalysts whose contributions should continue benefiting communities well beyond their own lifetimes.

That ambition is hardly new for an award that has spent more than six decades spotting young Filipino talent.

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TOYM was established in 1959 during the 11th JCI Philippines National Convention in Baguio City, after adopting an award that had been started by JCI Manila months earlier. Women became eligible for the recognition in 1984.

Over the years, its roster has included names that would later become prominent in Philippine business.

Pangilinan received the TOYM award for international finance, while Gokongwei was recognized for business leadership in 2000. Tantoco, now chair of the TOYM Foundation, belongs to Class of 2004.

Their careers offer a glimpse of what makes the award unusual: TOYM recognizes its recipients while they are still young enough for much of their story to remain unwritten.

Looking for the next generation

The search formally kicked off at the MPIC boardroom in Pasig City, with Tantoco joined by TOYM Foundation president and 2013 honoree Chaye Cabal-Revilla, JCI Philippines national president Patrick DL Maglinao and national executive vice president Joseph Ginno Jaralve.

“I think in everything that’s happening locally and globally with the geopolitical issues, we really need to find young Filipinos who can inspire many,” Cabal-Revilla says.

READ: Inquirer’s Dumlao, Tan lead TOYM awardees

“This search is for outstanding young Filipinos who not only excel in their work, but also make a difference in the lives of many Filipinos,” she says.

The 2026 search covers fields far beyond the corporate world.

Nominees may come from business and economics, humanitarian service and social work, arts and culture, science and mathematics, engineering and agriculture, education, law, public service, medicine, sports and journalism and mass communications.

But accomplishment alone is not enough.

Candidates must have spent a substantial part of their lives pursuing their chosen field, with documentary proof subject to verification. They must likewise have a record of contributing to humanitarian causes.

Past TOYM honorees and current national officers or paid staff of JCI Philippines and the TOYM Foundation are not eligible.

A nominee must also be endorsed by a JCI chapter in the Philippines. The latest crop will have sizable shoes to fill.

TOYM’s history suggests that impact does not have a single address. It can begin in a boardroom, a laboratory, an ancestral community or deep beneath the sea.

What matters is where that work eventually leads.

For the 2026 search, nominations run through October, followed by screening, judging and selection from November to December.

More than six decades after the first search, TOYM is again making a wager on young Filipinos.

The previous honorees went on to become household names in Philippine business. The question for 2026 is who comes next. INQ