Jay Jaboneta

Jay Michael Ortuoste Jaboneta, better known as Jay Jaboneta, is a Filipino blogger, philanthropist, new media advocate, and online community organizer, who served as Head for New Media under the Presidential Communications Operations Office of President Benigno Aquino III. Jaboneta is best known for having sparked the idea that led to the creation of the charitable organization Philippine Funds for Little Kids, for which Jaboneta was recognized by Yahoo! Southeast Asia as one of their “7 Modern Day Pinoy Heroes.” In May 2012, The Philippine Funds for Little Kids was incorporated as the Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation, Inc.

Born September 13, 1981, in Cotabato City, Mindanao, Philippines, Jaboneta graduated as valedictorian from high school at Notre Dame of Cotabato in 1998. He earned his BS in Commerce with a major in Management Accounting and a minor in Philosophy in 2005 from the Ateneo de Davao Universit

Jaboneta began his career in the marketing and sales sector, working for private companies such as Procter & Gamble Philippines, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, and Metrobank Card Corporation. It was during this time that Jaboneta took an active interest in new media and its impact on the fields of marketing, public relations, and community organizing.

In 2010, he shifted careers to help manage the campaign of lawyer-author-philanthropist Alex Lacson when the latter chose to run in the Philippine Senate election, 2010, under the slate of Liberal Party candidate Benigno Aquino III.

When Benigno Aquino III won the election and became President of the Philippines in June 2010, Jaboneta was tapped to serve as Head of New Media in the newly created Presidential Communications Operations Office. He led the team that managed the President’s official website and social networking sites.

It was during his term that the "gov.ph" domain, formerly assigned as the official website of the Office of the President of the Philippines, was reassigned to serve as the digital version of the Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. This also saw the launch of a separate "president.gov.ph" domain as the official website of the Office of the President of the Philippines.

On October 29–30, 2010, Jaboneta served as a featured speaker at a Mindanao Bloggers Summit in Zamboanga City. It was at this event that he first learned about elementary school students from Layag-Layag, an island community in Zamboanga City. Close to 200 of these students could only attend school by swimming half a mile to get to the mainland. Concerned by this fact, and encouraged by businessman Josiah Go to do something more than just post on Facebook about it, Jaboneta began a movement he called Zamboanga Fund for Little Kids. The group began by raising funds to be able to provide the community of Layag-Layag with boats that the students could ride to school. Meeting initial success, the group kept pressing forward, searching for ways to be able to serve the Layag-layag community more sustainably while identifying other communities with similar needs. Today, the project is formally known the Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation, Inc. (YBH) with Jaboneta and Anton Mari H. Lim as co-founders. As of June 2016, over 2440 Yellow Boats have been donated, and five schools built, along with dormitories and day care centers. Every YBH community receives school supplies, school bags, clothing, and nutritional support. The YBH focus is on education, medical support, local ecology, sustainability, and empowering others. Strong community involvement combined with social networking contribute to the growth of the Yellow Boat Project.

Jaboneta was one of 10 people chosen as an Acumen Fund Global Fellow for the Class of 2013, spending nine months in Lahore, Pakistan, and the remainder at Acumen headquarters in New York City. While in Pakistan, he worked with Pharmagen Healthcare, helping develop a marketing and sales strategy for the company’s water division.

In November, 2013, Jaboneta became Manager of Corporate Affairs for Philippine Business for Social Progress. He made numerous presentations in the Greater Manila area and throughout the globe, and stays closely allied to many NGOs, businesses, and organizations that exist to provide growth and sustainability to the Philippine people. Two years later, he left Philippine Business for Social Progress to pursue a consulting and speaking career while fundraising for the Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation.

In November 2015 Jaboneta was hired by De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde as Consultant on Social Innovation. His exposure in professional development and his networking skills paved the way for him to receive recognition and awards in Community Service and Social Media. He has become a speaker, lecturer, and facilitator in varied topics ranging from Community Service, New Media in Governance, Social Media in Nation Building, Youth Leadership, Public Service, Social Media for Social Change, Government Communications, and Advocacy Marketing. In January 2012 he presented at TEDxMontpellier^[13] and was the only Asian who presented.

• TEDxKinnaird 2013
• TEDxBritishSchoolManila 2016

Awards

• The Apex Society Power 30 Under 30 honoree
• Gawad Geny Lopez Jr. Bayaning Pilipino Regional Awardee
• Eton International School 7 Pillars of Hope Award Recipient
• Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty in the Philippines Outstanding Liberal Projects Award Recipient.
• Acumen Fund Global Fellow for the Class of 2013
• Heroes for Better – Western Union Award
• Boatloads of Hope for the Philippines-Wall Street Journal