ABOUT 300 youth leaders in Bacolod City led by Barangay Sum-ag Sangguniang Kabataan chairman Jason Villarosa join the Duterte Youth Movement.
The official launch on Sunday, July 1, was led by National Youth Commissioner Ronald Cardema, who administered the oath of the SK officials.
In a press conference, Cardema said they are supervising and monitoring the SK officials, chairmen and kagawads, in the country.
“After Bacolod, we will be spreading throughout Negros and the region,” he said.
The priority programs of NYC are anchored on the policy direction of President Rodrigo Duterte which includes disaster response as the country is always struck with typhoons from A to Z.
"We know that this year, we have 20 typhoons and next year, it may be more but the sad thing is that we are not preparing just like what happened in the Eastern Visayas. We don’t want it to happen in Western Visayas,” he said.
What we can do is to organize the youth and tap or mobilize them to be ready or know what needs to be done during calamities, he added.
The NYC is partnering with the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council so that they can orient all the SK leaders in the country on how to respond during calamities and disasters, he said.
The marching order of the Malacañang is to tap the SK leaders for disaster response.
Before, the youth leaders were into sports, beauty contests or plate numbers for the residential houses. President Duterte does not want to dwell on those projects anymore, he said.
“We need to maximize their efforts. We need to inform everybody that they need to be oriented on disaster response. The country is included in the Pacific Ring of Fire and in the Pacific Ocean, we always have typhoons. We cannot change it anymore. We can only change the mindset of the people that we need to be prepared always. Just like Japan, there always have emergency drills. The Koreans are also ready for any eventuality. Our country has 100 million population with more than 50 million youth and we can just teach and train them on disaster response,” he said.
Secondly, President Duterte wants the youth to also keep an eye on the anti-drugs campaign of the government, he said.
“The President did not say that they will do the patrol in their respective areas but for them to know and understand the ills of illegal drugs when they use it or trade it,” he said.
The NYC is partnering with the Dangerous Drugs Board for the information drive.
Moreover, Cardema said the youth leaders should also be involved in the government’s anti-crime drive.
“The mindset of our youth should be to be ready to help by calling 888 or the government agency concerned. Currently, if there is a crime, one will just record the incident on his or her phone and upload it on social media. But we need to upgrade the mindset by reporting it the police to mobilize them and take the appropriate action,” he said.
A lot of people lost their sense of nationhood and community building, he said
Meanwhile, Cardema said this July he will enjoin all SK leaders to also address the problem on vandalism.
"Those who vandalize are also the youth and we want the youth to solve it," he added.