The board of judges composed of Usec. Zenaida Maglaya, Gang Badoy Capati, James Deakin, RJ Ledesma, Love Anover-Lianko, Jonathan Yabut, Winston Maxino, Rommel Arellano, and Richardson Navor chose Bueno unanimously by virtue of his advocacy to see more children’s lives change through education. Zaldy volunteered as an ALS teacher and taught on weekends, he even had his mother as his student at one point and helped her finish her secondary education. Zaldy co-founded project PADYAK in 2017, PADYAK stands for Pidal Apakan Dunong Yayaman, Asenso’y Kakamtan, which aims to provide bicycle units for students who could not afford to go to school.
The project turned out huge with so many people donating new and used bicycle units from all over the Philippines even getting donations from OFWs abroad. This project drastically increased attendance for students at school for which their school received a perfect attendance award.
When asked what Bueno will do with the prize money, he shared that he will use it further improve Project PADYAK by acquiring more bike units which more students can use to get to school. He also shared that he will use a part of it to bring his parents to Singapore for a well-deserved vacation.
Breaking its own record, the Cebuana Lhuillier search received over 80,000 nominations this year, the most entries it has received in its ten-year history.
