3,700 Comval Students Empowered as Peace Months Ends

NABUNTURAN, CVP - A total of 3,784 Student Leaders from 26 Secondary Schools in Comval were engaged by the Youth for Peace Movement Comval over the month as its flagship program named 3rd Comval Campus Peace Symposium (CPS) kickstarted on September 16 to 30, 2019.

The CPS is a month-long in-school drive of the said youth organization under its Youth Development Program that is annually being conducted every September in celebration of the National Peace Consciousness Month.

It also serves as a supporting activity to the Department of Education's (DepEd) Order No. 109, which reiterates its declaration of "Schools as Zones of Peace."

The CPS is designed to gather at least 100 student leaders in a 1-day event in every target School, with 55 Secondary Schools participating all over the Province.

"Some of these target Schools are situated in areas designated as Conflict-Affected, which greatly affect the educational growth of the students and makes them more vulnerable to the recruitment of Lawless Armed Groups," Mr. Bren Cabatingan, President of YFPM Comval explained.

Some of the Schools that were already implemented with the peace drive are the Awao, Ulip, and Babag National High Schools (NHS) of Monkayo; Mayaon and Camansi NHS of Montevista; Camanlangan and Andap NHS of New Bataan; New Leyte NHS - Masara Extension of Maco; Anitapan and Golden Valley NHS of Mabini; Maragusan NHS of Maragusan; and the National High Schools of Pantukan, Compostela, and Laak.

As a multi-stakeholder activity, the CPS is also conducted in partnership with various peace partners in Comval such as the Provincial Local Government Unit (PLGU), led by Gov. Jayvee Tyron L. Uy, DepEd, Department of Interior and Local Government Government (DILG), 1001st Infantry Brigade and 66th Infantry Battalion - Philippine Army, Comval Provincial Police Office (CVPPO), and Supreme Student Government (SSG)

With the theme, "Engaging Student Leaders, Empowering Peacebuilders, to Ripple Genuine Peace-building in the Zones of Peace," CPS aims to inform the students of the different issues and concerns in the country and allow them to suggest possible solutions to these.

One of these issues is the rampant bullying, which the event also aims to address by instilling the values among the students through the topics Spirituality and Sensitivity.

Through lectures and various teambuilding activities, the activity also aims to empower the students as campus peacebuilders, help them discover their leadership potentials, prevent them from joining armed rebel groups, and ignite their vision for a peace zone campus.

Each student participant was also able to write a "Message of Peace" for the members of the New Peoples Army, as a way of encouraging them to go back to their families and live a normal life.

The CPS will continue until October this year and targets to engage more than 5,000 students before it culminates.

Source: Peace Communication Committee, Youth for Peace Movement Comval