The Army’s 6th Special Forces Company (SFC) has initiated a month-long feeding program to encourage schoolchildren in Talipao, Sulu, to pursue their studies.

Capt. Ron Villarosa, 6SFC commander, said Wednesday the feeding program is in partnership with Century Tuna Pacific Group, Gawad Kalinga, Bud Bunga Barangay Council, and volunteer teachers who belong to the group called SULADS, or Socio-economic Uplift, Literacy, Anthropological, and Developmental Services.

Villarosa said they launched the feeding program Monday so that the children will no longer have to go home at noontime and then return in the afternoon for their classes.

The recipients are the more than 100 Grade 1 to Grade 4 learners of the newly inaugurated Peace Formation and Learning Center in Sitio Larang, Barangay Bud Bunga, Talipao.

Villarosa said at least 15 of the learners are sons and daughters of former members of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), who have already surrendered to live a peaceful life together with their families.

“It will take them (children) an hour to arrive home and another hour to reach the learning center. They are not even sure whether there is food to eat when they arrive home,” Villarosa said.

He said the children are being fed at lunchtime with a complete meal consisting of rice, vegetables, and canned goods.

The Parent-Teacher Association, together with the four by SULAD volunteer-teachers, are in-charge of the food preparation, according to Villarosa.

Meanwhile, Villarosa said parents of the children also attended tutorial classes during weekends.

“They are being taught how to read and write,” Villarosa disclosed citing some of them have just reached Grade 2 during their childhood days.

The 6SFC, which belongs to the Army’s 2nd Special Force Battalion, initiated the program together with concerned stakeholders to deter the ASG from recruiting new members in Talipao.

“We deter violent extremism through developmental efforts,’ Villarosa said. “More than just fighting the enemy, we are here to build communities.”

The activity will be sustained by the Talipao Municipal Task Force to End Local Armed Conflict (MTF-ELAC) through the nourishment program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

The MTF-ELAC is Sulu’s version of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict. (PNA)