Don’t judge: youth discuss ‘safe spaces’ in celebration
About 250 young people from different parts of Cebu attended the National Youth Commission (NYC) celebration of the International Youth Day (IYD) in the Cebu Grand Hotel in Cebu City yesterday.
The participants represented different sectors under NYC, including out-of-school youth, students, young people with special needs, Sangguniang Kabataan officials and youth volunteers.
The IYD was the culmination of this year’s Linggo ng Kabataan.
NYC assistant secretary Paul Pangilinan, chairperson of IYD and LNK 2018 National Organizing Committee, that this year’s IYD celebration was different than those of previous years.
“We conceptualized a program that is more fun so that the youth will appreciate the activity even more,” Pangilinan said.
The activity was held simultaneously in other venues in Biñan, Dagupan, Iloilo, Zamboanga and Iligan. Carrying the theme “Safe Spaces for Youth,” the event was meant to expose the youth to different perspectives of “safe spaces” and to orient SK officials about their roles as leaders.
“Be a ‘safe space’ sa inyong kapwa Pilipino. Don’t judge, mock, and bully. Let us be sensitive to give safe spaces in our youth and fellow Filipinos. Help the National Youth Commission provide safe spaces for youth,” NYC Commis- sioner Rhea Piñaflor said in her speech. She mentioned in her speech a result of a National Youth Assessment Study in 2015 that said 26 percent of the country’s youth believe that their lives have no meaning.
“And gusto natin ay 0 percent yun. Do not think that life is not worth living, that is why today is an interesting day. Today is a day that you have to do something kase kayo kailangan na may na-contribute kayo na ma-zero na itong 26 percent. Always think before tayo magsalita, before tayo mag-comment at kung pwede ang ating positivity ang ating ibigay sa kapwa nating kabataan,” she said.
The IYD is celebrated every Aug. 12, based on United Nations Resolution 54/120, adopted in 1999. /