Youth advocates for PH sovereignty join drafting of national youth plan for peace

Justin Keith Baquisal, NYMWPS national vice-chairperson with  Vanessa Pallarco, Director of the Social Healing and Peacebuilding Department of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity in Butuan city, Philippines. CONTRIBUTED

Justin Keith Baquisal, national vice-chairperson of National Youth Movement for the West Philippine Sea, represented the organization in drafting the National Action Plan on Youth, Peace, and Security (NAP-YPS) held from May 29-June 1 in Butuan City, Mindanao, Philippines.

The trans-global and non-partisan NYMWPS advocates for the preservation of the Philippines’ sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The drafting event was hosted by the Philippines government’s Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (OPAPRU) and the German Agency for International Cooperation.

The NAP-YPS is a participatory strategic document “made by the youth for the youth” and hopes to define a strategic agenda for government agencies.

Twenty five (25) youth leaders, practitioners, and experts from the academe, civil society, Sangguniang Kabataan, and humanitarian organizations deliberated and crafted the country’s first action plan for the youth on issues such as preventing, countering and transforming violent extremism, human security, peacebuilding,and the protection of national sovereignty.

Baquisal provided technical recommendations for mechanisms and strategic targets for youth participation on the West Philippine Sea issue, as well as national defense and foreign affairs matters. He underscored the need to involve youth-serving and youth-led organizations in geopolitics and to lobby the government to continuously uphold the national patrimony.

The NAP-YPS is one of only three in the world and will be submitted to the Philippine President for approval. The National Youth Movement for the West Philippine Sea will tirelessly engage the government and all relevant stakeholders in pursuit of the defense of national sovereignty and our territory.