Military launches expository tours
The tour provided youth leaders grounded realities on the push and pull factors and root causes of violent extremism in Sulu
ZAMBOANGA CITY — A series of expository tours and immersion forum were conducted by the military in the recently liberated communities of Talipao in line with the thrust to remove discrimination against Upper Sinumaan as a hotbed of terrorism in Sulu province.
Joint Task Force Sulu commander Maj. Gen. Ignatius Patrimonio also disclosed that they also intend to exploit the tourism potential of Barangay Bud Bunga and at Upper Sinumaan area in Talipao as peace sets in the province.
Patrimonio said participants in the Student Action Force Youth Leadership Summit were given an expository trip and immersion to the communities in the Talipao villages as part of their module.
The expository trip was a collaboration between soldiers of the 6th, 2nd, and the 7th Special Action Battalion and police officers of the Special Action Force in Sulu for efforts on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE).
The tour provided youth leaders grounded realities on the push and pull factors and root causes of violent extremism in Sulu as it aimed to validate the PCVE lecture conducted at the 7th Special Action Battalion, Special Action Force headquarters in Jolo.
The youth leaders also witnessed several PCVE initiatives initiated by the Special Forces operators in the former Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) bailiwick, among them are the Peace Formation and Learning Center and Battlegrounds to Playgrounds project, both serving as an education and social development facility for the ASG Returnees, their dependents and the whole community.
The group also traversed the newly opened Sinumaan Road Network from Barangay Bud Bunga to the hinter communities of Upper Sinumaan and capping the tour was the visti to the scenic Masjid Maas from where the Sinumaan view deck sits.
The vicinity of Masjid Maas served as a consolidation area of ASG fighters before Special Forces Operators liberated the community last February 2022.