Maguindanao youth groups launch province-wide network
• 15:49 PM Wed Dec 24, 2014
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By:
John Unson
Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu (center) leads representatives of 188 youth groups in pledging support to the humanitarian ideals of the newly-formed Maguindanao Youth Network. (John Unson)
BULUAN,
Maguindanao -- At least 188 youth organizations, mostly led by Moro students,
on Tuesday pledged support to the Mindanao peace process and vowed to help push
the socio-economic agenda of the provincial government forward.
Most members
of the youth groups are beneficiaries of the provincial government’s
Maguindanao Program for Education and Empowerment (MagPEACE), which bankrolls
the schooling of more than 5,000 students from across the 36 towns in the
province.
Engineer
Wahab Tunga, provincial administrator, said the officials of different youth
organizations gathered in Buluan town, the new provincial capital, where they
committed support to diplomatic means of fostering cultural and religious
solidarity among the local Muslim, Christian and lumad communities.
The youth
leaders also fused ranks under the Maguindanao Youth Network (MYN), which they
formed and launched during the gathering.
Tunga said
Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu personally administered their oath of
membership to the pioneering MYN.
Tunga said
the MYN was established as a peace and development vehicle” for Maguindanao’s
youth sector, whose educational advancement the office of the provincial
governor aims to sustain through college scholarships and other interventions.
Mangudadatu
told reporters one objective of the MYN is to engage Maguindanao’s youth sector
in various continuing academic and extra-curricular activities to prevent them
from getting hooked to drugs and other illegal activities.
Members of
the pioneering MYN also committed support to the efforts of the government to
address domestic security concerns through traditional and religious
interventions, with the help of the local Islamic and Christian elders.
Most importantly,
this youth network will play a big, active role in spreading peace and
sustainable development in the province,” Tunga said.
He said the
activation of the MYN was supported extensively by the office of Mangudadatu.
Mangudadatu
also issued documentary accreditation to the 188 youth groups that gathered in
Buluan town last Tuesday to launch the MYN.