VIGAN CITY (PIA) – Various government agencies joined together to empower youth members of the indigenous community of Lidlidda town in Ilocos Sur through a Youth Leadership Summit (YLS).
 
Led by the Army’s 71st Infantry Battalion (IB) and the local government unit (LGU) of Lidlidda, at least 50 youth belonging to the Itneg-Kankanaey and Bago Tribes participated in the Indigenous People-YLS Summit (IP-YLS) 2022 held recently.
 
The three-day activity was filled with a series of lectures on sustaining the stability of internal peace and security, advocating gender and development, communist terrorist group (CTG) recruitment schemes in the youth and student sector, and other equally important topics that involve the concern and welfare of the youth sector.
 
The lectures were conducted by the Philippine Army, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Ilocos Sur Police Provincial Office through the Lidlidda Municipal Police Station, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government depicting the whole-of-nation approach of the government.
 
“This aims to empower the participants as our young peace-builders of the society,” LTCOL Michael Bautista, commanding officer of the 71st IB, said as he expressed his gratitude for the support of the LGU and its Sangguniang Kabataan.
 
With the aim to reach and enlighten more youth members against CTG recruitment, not just from the IP sector, the Army and its stakeholders continuously conduct a series of awareness drives in various communities in the province.
 
Another information and awareness drive on the role of the youth in nation building and about the CTG’s deceptive recruitment among the students of San Emilio National High School in San Emilio town and Burgos National High School in Burgos town were conducted by the Army’s 71st IB on September 20 and 28, respectively. (JCR/AMB/JMCQ, PIA Ilocos Sur)