Recognizing their role in nation-building, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Cebu said it will continue to engage the millennials on pressing issues concerning the youth, an Army official said on Tuesday.

Capt. Elma Grace Abulencia, deputy public affairs office of the Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, said the military’s continued engagement with young Cebuanos through the Youth Leadership Summit (YLS) will bring them closer to the military and encourage their participation in fruitful talks about nationalism, patriotism, and culture transformation.

“In hopes of unleashing the leaders within these young individuals, numerous lectures and activities were set throughout the course of the YLS,” Abulencia said in a statement.

She said the Army has just concluded the first-ever YLS in the municipality of San Francisco on Camotes Island, which was conducted in partnership with the local government unit and the youth organizations in the town.

The activity was also in partnership with the local government unit, the Task Group Cebu, and 14th Civil Military Operations Battalion.

The Army saw the recent engagement with the youth in Camotes Island as a fulfilling mission as they discussed the effects of insurgency on a peaceful society and the menace of illegal drugs, Abulencia said.

Lecturers also exposed the youth to various peace and development efforts of the government through the whole-of-nation approach implemented by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

Apart from lectures, the youth were given activities to ingrain memories and cultural transformation such as the “Gabi ng Kultura” aimed at honing innate talents such as dancing, singing, acting, and speaking, as well as the coronation night for the “Mr. and Ms. YLS”.

The summit conducted from March 9-11) at the Canlusong Airsoft and Gun Club Firing Range in Barangay San Isidro, San Francisco town engaged 66 young leaders from eight barangays.

“The optimism and dynamism are two of the innate qualities of the youth to become greater than what they are today. I am ecstatic to learn that a partnership with the LGU of San Francisco was molded,” Col. Jerry Borja, commander of the AFP’s Task Group Cebu, said in a message. (PNA)