John Cando was born in the city of Cabanatuan in the mainly rural province of Nueva Ecija in the Philippines on August 15, 1984 to Juanito, a former overseas worker and Francisca, a former university professor and social worker. John grew up in the urban province of Bulacan, north of Manila. He studied his elementary until his secondary education in the private school, Centro Escolar University in the Philippines.
He attended college in the same institution taking up Doctor of Dental Medicine (D.M.D.) but only finished one semester because he and his family moved to the United States — Hawai’i in 2004. During his school years in the Philippines, John was an active student leader, taking important leadership positions in his college student councils. He has a very keen interest in politics, most especially in student politics and according to him, “Public service is his first love”.
John was a Volunteer-Instructor with the Honolulu Community Action Program in 2004, teaching working mothers in Waimanalo on the basics of computer office softwares. John also worked as an Educational Assistant in the Hawaii Department of Education (Kalaheo High School, Kailua) helping Special Education students from 2004-2005. He went back to school in 2006 at Kapi’olani Community College to finish his Associate in Arts degree and will transfer to the University of Hawai’i at Manoa afterwards taking up Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.
Currently, John serves as the elected Student Representative-at-large in the KCC Student Congress, garnering 14% of the votes last April elections.
John was elected as Treasurer of the KCC Student Congress Executive Board for School Year 2008-2009 and concurrently serves as Chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee and the campus’ Alternate Delegate to the University of Hawaii Student Caucus (UHSC), the umbrella organization of all UH System Student Governments.
John currently lives in the laid back Windward Oahu town of Waimanalo.
John speaks Filipino (Tagalog) fluently and loves to read history, political books and newspapers, listening to music, watching movies, snorkeling and hanging out with his friends.
