COTABATO CITY – The passage and eventual ratification of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) are keys to the elimination of violent extremism, especially among the youth.
This was emphasized by Director Carlos T. Sol Jr., head of the Combined Secretariat of the GPH Coordination Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (GPH CCCH) and GPH Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (GPH AHJAG), in his talk at the Joint Workshop on Engendering Human Security and Peace Building on March 11, 2018 at the 6th Infantry Division Civil Military Operations (CMO) Battalion in Pedro Colina Hill, Cotabato City.
The event was organized by International Organization for Migration under its PAMANA program in partnership with the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) and the 6th ID CMO Battalion.
In his briefing titled “Understanding Violent Extremism and the GPH-MILF Peace Process,” Sol said violent extremism groups target the youth, especially well-educated ones, for recruitment.
“Yung ating mga kabataan (Our young people) are the most at risk, those individuals for whom the status quo is not a good environment… (They are) learned individuals desiring for meaningful change and order. They are vulnerable as agents of violent extremism,” he said.
Sol said he is hopeful that passage and ratification of the BBL as well as the installation of the Bangsamoro Government will prevent the spread of violent extremism.
“I am positive that the insurgency of the Moro fronts, particularly the MILF, will end very soon. It is only the promulgation of the Bangsamoro Basic Law and the installation of the Bangsamoro Government that would contribute to the elimination or reduction of violent extremism,” he said.
