COTABATO CITY—In his 3rd State of the Bangsamoro Youth Address (SOBYA) on Aug. 24, Bangsamoro Youth Commission (BYC) Chairperson Marjanie Macasalong praised the youth for playing a vital role in shaping the social landscape in the region.
“Today, as we celebrate International Youth Day 2022, we would like to recognize the significant contributions of our youth. Their active participation in society only proves that we can work hand in hand in addressing the issues and concerns of our community,” Macasalong said.
“The youth is undeniably a critical player in our social landscape,” he emphasized.
SOBYA is an annual event of the BYC wherein its chairperson presents the status of the Bangsamoro youth, as well as the Commission’s accomplishments. The ceremony also forms part of the regional celebration of the International Youth Day.
Macasalong mentioned that one of BYC’s mechanisms on the policy-making mandate is allowing the youth to have an avenue for them to come up with proposed bills that will benefit them.
In December 2021, the BYC was able to implement its Bangsamoro Youth Parliament program, wherein 76 youth parliamentarians from all provinces and sectors across the region were able to pass bills and resolutions beneficial to their development and welfare.
“That is how dynamic and strong the Bangsamoro youth are. They were able to discuss prevailing and emerging issues affecting them and crafted policy recommendations as possible solutions through a parliamentary set-up that simulates a legislative process,” Macasalong stressed.
He also noted a gradual increase in the number of youth organizations accredited by BYC.
“In 2020, we were able to accredit 307 youth organizations from the region’s five provinces, opt-in areas, and Moro communities outside our region. This year, the numbers have shown significant development. We have now 536 strong and powerful youth organizations,” he shared.
According to him, accreditation at BYC serves as the youth organizations’ legal identity and will open opportunities for them to engage and participate in development-related programs of the BYC, other ministries, and instrumentalities of the Bangsamoro Government, and other development partners.
Macasalong also recognized the contribution of various ministries and offices in the region including all their development partners to ensure that no one is left behind.
“These sustained programs make the BARMM Government a government that truly supports the idea that the agenda of the youth is an agenda for all,” Macasalong said.
Also present during the event were high-ranking officials of the Government of the Day who expressed their message of support for BYC and the youth sector.
Senior Minister and Member of the Parliament Abdulrauf Macacua who cited some of the famous quotes pertaining to youth as the hope of the nation, shared his own version of what he coined ‘real accepted definition of youth’.
“The future of the country or nation is in the hands of the youth but the future of the youth is in the hands of the elders,” said Macacua.
Macacua even referred to the late MILF founding chair Salamat Hashim and other great Bangsamoro leaders who set a good example in honing their children properly.
“In the BARMM today, we are doing our support to the youth because we believe that success is [a] failure without succession, and that succession is the youth of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao,” he further said. (Abdullah Matucan/BIO)
