YOUTH POWER. Still full of energy, these youth leaders aboard six aircon buses of the Army and Navy arrive at Camp Elias Angeles Wednesday morning after a two-day tour to important places in Metro Manila as part of the five-day leadership training under the Youth Leadership Summit program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. JUAN ESCANDOR JR.
NAGA CITY — Using organizing and consciousness-raising strategies to win the youth to peace, a program of the civil-military operations (CMO) is training youth leaders “for nation building” and federating them from the municipal, provincial, regional to national levels.
Brig. Gen. Felix Castro, assistant commander of the 9th Infantry Division (ID) based in Pili town in Camarines Sur, said the training program Youth Leadership Summit (YLS) has been going on for five years now and so far a national event is targeted next month.
Castro said 200 participants from the six Bicol provinces who joined the first regional YLS held on Oct 18-22 in an upland resort here were endorsed by local government officials from the six provinces of Bicol.
He said Albay Gov. Jose Maria Salceda was among the resource speakers of the two-day event that aimed at developing leaders from among the citizens 15-30 years of age in the communities.
Castro said the AFP provides the project funding of YLS including transportation, food, and accommodation of the 200 participants from Albay, the two Camarines provinces, Catanduanes, Masbate, and Sorsogon.
Lt. Col. Pastrana, head of the CMO of the Army’s 9th ID, said the YLS is part of the Army’s strategy to win the youth to embrace peaceful way of change before other groups could “poison” them.
Pastrana said the training provides the youth the positive view of dealing with societal and governmental concerns and gives better alternative of change than armed struggle.
He believes that with the available resources they could sustain the youth organizing.
Training module includes three days lecture-discussion on topics that dwell on the youth of today as future leaders, insights on leadership and management of local government unit, peace process and peace building, and action planning.
The three-day lecture-discussion with team building activities was capped by the organization of Youth for Peace Movement (YPM) at provincial and regional levels.
Don Velasco Pesonela, who hails from Sorsogon and the regional president of YPM, said he found the training useful because it has developed his skills, attitude, and team-building strategies.
Pensonela revealed they were taught how to be a law-abiding citizen and he thinks it is the right way that every citizen must tread.
He said that a big responsibility have been placed on his shoulders because he was elected leader whose duties he must perform for one year.
Pensonela echoed what Pastrana said that the intention is not counterinsurgency but winning the peace in the communities and nation as part of the “internal security.”
Asked on his view regarding the Left movement, he said that the Left-leaning groups must help the government more than criticizing and pursuing the armed struggle.
He said he learned these things in the training that the citizens must help each other resolve the problem and stop joining activities that will destroy the peace and security of the communities and pursue peaceful means of resolving the problem.
Michael Angelo Gallego, 20, a student of the Bicol University, said the YSL is a way to win the hearts and minds of the people, where the AFP reaches out to the youth sector in Philippines.
Gallego shared he is a journalism student and “had been into lot of situations” and gave YLS a try.
He said it was his second time to join the YLS and the most important he learned is “the civilian support to the military” which he said also included the “psychological affairs.”
Gallego said he had been an editor-in-chief of the Bicol Universitarian and exposed to the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) and the League of Filipino Students (LFS).
He said he is practicing non-partisanship being a journalism student and attended seminars sponsored by CEGP and LFS.
http://www.bicolmail.com/2012/?p=11964
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