Equip the youth, end gender-based violence

 

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (November 15, 2022) – The Sarangani Provincial Information Office (SPIO) has partnered with gender advocate John Salvador D. Demdam to equip the youth in Sarangani become effective advocates to end gender-based violence (GBV).

Demdam is the chairperson of the Sangguniang Kabataan SOCCSKSARGEN Federation and president of the Panglungsod na Pederasyon ng mga Sangguniang Kabataan of General Santos City.

The endeavor, executed through a seminar dubbed as Information Management to Mitigate Risks of Gender-Based Violence on November 10-11, was an avenue for the youth in Sarangani to bolster their communication skills and help in the advocacy, Sarangani Provincial Information Officer Joana Grace Banting-Lapore said.

“Prevention, through information management, plays a pivotal role in efforts to eradicate and remove the root causes of gender-based violence,” Lapore said as she recognized the important contribution of the youth sector to such preventative endeavor.

The SPIO tapped the municipal Sangguniang Kabataan Federation presidents in Sarangani, Paaral Para sa Sarangans (PPSS) scholars, and teachers from Primasia Foundation College, Inc.

As a gender advocate, Demdam urged the youth representatives and teachers to spread the campaign by creating their own advocacy starting off from their respective locality as he told them that the fight to end GBV “is everybody’s concern.”

He also lamented that the society at present is no longer safe for women and girls.

Violence against women, according to the Philippine Commission on Women, “appears as one of the country’s pervasive social problems.” (Beverly C. Paoyon & photos by Jake Narte and Mosler Paul Lapore/SARANGANI PROVINCIAL INFORMATION OFFICE)

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