FIVE days after baring the Youth National Service (YNS) plan for the country here in Bohol last April 1, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo eyes enlisting grandchildren of World War II veterans as first beneficiaries.
The presidential announcement during the Araw ng Kagitingan rites at the Dambana ng Kagitingan in Bataan has also elated survivors of veterans who were ineligible for the cash windfall from the US stimulus package recently.
In Bohol where many of such youth have either been unemployed or underemployed and want to seek additional source of income to keep themselves afloat in these tough times.
Over this development, the President instructed Defense Undersecretary Ernesto Carolina to “identify grandchildren of Filipino World War II veterans” who can be recruited to the National Service Corps.
The recruits, who would either be unemployed or under-employed, would undertake two-year national service commitment in service programs for the community, for a modest pay.
“It shall be geared to the unemployed or underemployed skilled youth or college graduates. It will focus on their contributions to education and community service programs with a modest stipend,” the President said at the Bohol Wisdom School last April 1.
On recruiting the siblings of veterans, she said this should be one way of helping the veteran’s families.
The National Service Corps is similar to the Peace Corps of the United States targeting youth aged 18 – 24 years old, she said.
Moreover, she assed that while the Department of Social Welfare and Development is undergoing national poverty mapping project to locate the poorest of the poor across the country, the short-term jobs may also be a good entry point for the unemployed youth.
The Php 1-Billion Poverty Mapping project serves some sort of a GPS locator to guide government in delivering cash transfers, rice subsidies and other assistance to deserving families, she explained.
“The DSWD needs an army of field engineers in assembling a concise picture of the poverty grid and coordinates of where poor households are,” said the President.
“This project is a major component of the government’s ‘YES’ or Youth Employment in Summer.
With help from the branches and satellite offices of the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office, President Arroyo hopes that mapping project will find the poor families of WWII veterans
She stressed that giving special attention to the surviving veterans and their siblings and those survived is a way of remembering and honoring their courage and incomparable patriotism. (rachiu/PIA)
