Catarman town in Northern Samar is this year’s venue for the second Pag-asa Youth Association of the Philippines (PYAP) National Summit set on May 16 to 20, at the University of Eastern Philippines.

A total of 1,250 delegates coming from 17 regions are expected to participate. Said Alice Severino, the Regional Focal Person of the Youth Program of the DSWD Field Office Eight, the participants compose of 800 PYAP members coming from the 16 regions, and 350 others from the host – region. The rest are Regional Focal Persons, Regional PYAP officers and outgoing PYAP officers, DSWD Regional Directors, and officials from the DSWD Central Office and staff of the Field Office.

DSWD Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman will be around during the formal opening, which also consists of the start of a on-the-spot skills olympics, ballgames competition, and trade fair/exhibit. 

To formally open the summit is Provincial Governor Raul Daza of the provincial government of Northern Samarr, which extended support in the amount of one hundred thousand pesos; the Local Government Unit (LGU) of Catarman – Php 338, 100.00; and the respective LGU of each federation – Php 388,100.00.

DSWD Field Office Eight Director Leticia Corillo is expressing her gratitude to said LGUs, saying that “indeed, we ought to help each other in the total development of the out-of-school youth.” “They, too, must have their share in nation-building,” she further emphasized.

The summit will be a venue for sharing successful practices of the PYAP, for replication of other LGUs, as well as identifying emerging issues affecting them and its corresponding solutions, and fostering friendship, camaraderie, and better coordination among regional PYAP federations in the country. Of course, it will also provide avenues for strengthening leadership, planning, and monitoring skills through effective summit management, and for discovering the youth’s innate potentials through sports, contests, and cultural presentations.

Some of the topics to be discussed are Disaster Management, Climate Change, Adolescent Reproductive Health and HIV-AIDS Situation, and the DSW’s Convergence Efforts Thru the Movement of Associations for Sustainable Action (MASA). The highlight of the four-day event is the Search for 2011 PYAP Ambassador and Ambassadress.

Corillo would like to commend the leadership of the PYAP Regional Federation Officers in the region, namely: Val Ducducan – president; Reden Sabela – vice-president for internal affairs; Glenn Depositario, vice-president for external affairs; Roberto Nimo, Jr. – secretary; Federico Balasanos, Jr. – treasurer; Randy Tigao – auditor; and Romualdo Gonzales – public information officer.