GENERAL SANTOS CITY (7 May 2015) – The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) issued a memorandum Monday (May 4) encouraging the youth sector from the 26 barangays of this city to participate in the coming Gensan Summer Youth Festival.
The memorandum was issued by DILG City Director Atty. Rochelle Sero. It was issued in support of Resolution No. 2014 passed by the Sangguniang Panlungsod on April 28 which requires barangay officials to bring interested youth from their area to the summer festival.
The SP resolution outlined that the Gensan Summer Youth Festival, as anchored in the R.A. 8044 or Youth in Nation-Building Act, was enacted by the city government to ensure the full participation of the youth by mobilizing their skills and talents through meaningful civic activities.
The festival—a program of City Mayor Ronnel Rivera—is divided into three major components that will cater to the different areas of youth development. These components are: the Youth Convergence, Summerlympics, and the Youth and the Arts.
“This activity is very unique because we can teach the youth the things that are not really taught in school, as useful skills in life,” Atty. Sero said.
“What I really like in the Summer Youth Festival is that we can equip the younger generation to be our future leaders. We are like passing the torch to them,” Sero emphasized.
She also revealed that she will also be participating in the Gensan Summer Youth Festival, specifically in a sub-event called the Balay Tinun-anan (Learning House).
In the Balay Tinun-anan, different partner agencies of the local government in the Summer Youth Festival such as the Philippine National Police will do lectures regarding the functions of their offices and how the youth can access their services.
For Sero, she will be the one who will be conducting the seminar for the DILG, specifying her eagerness to educate the youth.
The Gensan Summer Youth Festival is now in its second year. It was a bigger version of the Summer Youth Festival last year, as it already integrated several competitions, skill and talent camps, as well as youth socialization.
It will start on May 11 and will end on May 22. But some activities, like basketball games and other ball games have already started on May 1 and will continue until the end of the month.
The city government is already planning to institutionalize the Gensan Summer Youth Festival and make it an annual celebration of the city—aside from the Kalilangan, Tuna Festival, Yaman Gensan, and Paskuhan sa Gensan.
According to City Population and Management Office head Judith Janiola, the SP is now drafting an ordinance that will make Gensan Summer Youth Festival the same level as the other festivities here in the city.
“When that happens, it will create a big impact to the local government as well as of the youth sector. It will really reflect the advocacy of Mayor Rivera to empower and organize the youth,” Janiola said.
Part of the budget for the Summer Youth Festival came from the 10 percent of the Sangguniang Kabataan Fund as embodied in the Youth Development Plan. (Gensan CPIO/ Ian John Lagare)
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