MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur, Feb. 27 (PIA) --- The National Youth Commission (NYC) conducted a meeting with the Provincial Youth Development Council (PYDC) to get updates on the youth development initiatives being pursued by the provincial government.
The consultation meeting was held Wednesday, February 25, at the Provincial Capitol Compound, this city.
“We know the youth of Lanao del Sur have their own certain needs and how to respond to these needs is what we need to come up to today,” NYC Mindanao Commissioner Earl Pioquinto Saavedra told PYDC members and youth representatives while encouraging them to share and let their concerns be heard.
Provincial Chief of Staff Shiela D. Ganda assured NYC that the drug dependence issue in the province is minimal due to the influence of Islam among the youths.
“The number of youths who are drug dependents is not zero but at least very low. We are very glad too that we don’t have clubs or mobs here, however breed of extremists are now prevalent in the province,” Ganda said.
She said this can be associated to the inferiority of the youth citing the recent Mamasapano incident which resulted to negative reactions from people who do not know how it is like to live in Mindanao.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Nassif Elias of the MY Lanao group presented some of the highlights of previous youth consultative meetings in the province. He said the need for Provincial Youth Research and Training Center and youth empowerment programs were among the concerns raised during the previous consultations.
Commissioner Saavedra assured them that the concerns will be addressed properly. He said the concerns will be relayed to the central office to see the most feasible ones. They will be reviewed first to check if they need policy actions and interventions.
Other matters that were discussed during the meeting include the crafting of the Provincial Youth Development Plan, Youth Organization Participation, and revisiting of the Executive Order No. 021.
To cap the program, participants of the consultative meeting released yellow and white balloons to commemorate the EDSA revolution and sympathize with those affected by the recent Mamasapano clash. (Johaniah N Yusoph/PIA-10)
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