Marawi hero to youth leaders: Consider social work, military

Social Welfare Secretary Rolando Bautista. (File photo by JAM STA. ROSA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

BAGUIO CITY, Benguet, Philippines — Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Rolando Bautista urged hundreds of Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials attending this year’s National SK Summit in this city to consider a career in social work or join the Armed Forces.

Bautista, a former Army general who led the ground assault in the 2017 siege of Marawi City, was here for the SK Summit from Thursday to Sunday, the first to convene since the pandemic broke out in 2020.

Bautista said the patriotism of over 20 million Filipino youths needed to be “harnessed” to serve the country.

The youth are also the most influential voting sector, Bautista and other speakers pointed out at the summit. According to data provided by the Commission on Elections at the summit, 22.08 million youths voted in the 2019 midterm polls, representing 35 percent of ballots cast in that political exercise.

He said tapping the youth for government work would have a huge impact on an economy grappling with multiple crises brought by the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

Social workers have been unheralded front-liners in the battle against poverty, Bautista told the teens, citing their role in enforcing the conditional cash transfer program which provides up to P1,400 monthly grants to impoverished families. In exchange, beneficiaries must ensure their children remain in school and are periodically examined at local health centers. The secretary said 51,475 households had since graduated from the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

“Join the Army,” Bautista also suggested.

By becoming soldiers or by signing up for the military reserves, SK officials and like-minded youths could be shaped into genuine leaders, he said.

“Leadership is the bedrock of any organization,” he said.

—VINCENT CABREZA

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