Archival welcomes ties with environmental youth groups

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City councilor-elect Nestor Archival welcomes partnerships with Cebu-based environmental youth groups, as such initiatives “harmonize” with his advocacy.

“I’m more interested working with youth partners because of their idealism, and they work because they believe something needs to be done,” Archival said in a phone interview yesterday.

A new youth group in Cebu, dubbed “Leading Under New Horizons and Well-Being” (Lunhaw), recently expressed their interest in partnering with Archival, making his well-known “Eco-House” in Talamban as venue for an Eco-Camp slated late next month.

“Through the camp, we plan to get more volunteers to be part of our group and advocacy, because we believe we cannot do things with only the six of us,” said Phil Robert Figues, an incoming senior high school student of University of San Jose Recoletos - Basak campus and a member of Lunhaw.

The Eco-Camp is planned to be participated in by student government leaders from different public and private high schools in Cebu City. Other youth groups, such as the Boys Scouts of the Philippines, will also be invited to the event.

Lunhaw is composed of six high school students and one adult leader from Cebu City. They are Phil Robert Figues and Feresa Cabrera (USJ-R), Yenna Deliman (USC), and Joshua Urbiztondo and Rebekah Rosito from Cebu City National Science High School (CCNSHS).

The group is supported by the United States Department of State. They were chosen by the US Embassy Manila to go the United States for the Southeast Asia Youth Leadership Program (SEAYLP), a month-long interactive program participated in by youth from Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Myanmar and hosted by the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Youth from other parts of the country, such as Bacolod, Dumaguete, and Ilocos Norte, have also been sent to the United States for SEAYLP.

Lunhaw has also done other environmental initiatives recently, such as paper charcoal-making out of the sample ballots used in the May 13 polls.

The group also eyes on partnering with projects from other schools, such as USJ-R’s “Win on Waste” and USC’s “Project Green,” the group’s adult leader, Irene Lopez, said.

Archival, on the other hand, urged groups like Lunhaw to write proposal drafts for their action plans.

“Kinahanglan ang draft para naa’y impact and action ang ilang mga plano, (We need a draft so that plans will really have impact and actions.)” he said. (FREEMAN)