The 79th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army in Negros Oriental will be sending in December four participants coming from the first batch of the Youth Leadership Seminar (YLS) held last March to represent the province of Negros Oriental in the National Youth Leadership summit to be conducted in Manila.
The YLS is a free, three-day live-in seminar wherein different representatives acting as resource speakers from various line government agencies share their expertise primarily aimed to develop the participant’s leadership skills, said 1Lt Erick Wynmer Calulot, acting civil-military operations officer of the battalion.
Meanwhile, the 79th Infantry Battalion, in partnership with the provincial government of Negros Oriental through the Provincial Social Welfare and Development, the Department of Education and the local government unit of Sta. Catalina town, held recently the second YLS this year, this time to 38 selected students of the Avocado Community High School in the remote sub-village of Avocado in Sta. Catalina.
The 21 participants to the second YLS, comprising 21 females and 17 males, have been chosen as representatives of their respective classes who are from Barangay Talalak proper and Sitio Avocado, a far flung and conflict-affected area of Sta. Catalina, said Calulot in a media release.
It could also be remembered that last September, the unit conducted a project dubbed “Bayanihan; Lakbay Aral Para sa Kabataan” to fifty six (56) Ata tribe children who are members of the Indigenous Peoples from Barangay Canggohob in Mabinay, Negros Oriental.
The unit’s growing emphasis in involving the youth in its activities is part of the paradigm shift the Armed Forces of the Philippines has undertaken since 2011 under the precepts of Internal Peace Security Plan “Bayanihan” to engage all possible stakeholders that would catalyze and ensure peace and development in communities and in the country. (PNA)
