Gensan Summer Youth Festival:2016

Bigger the second time around

       GENERAL SANTOS CITY – As promised Mayor Ronnel Rivera delivered a bigger and more exciting Gensan Summer Youth Festival (GSYF) this 2016.

       This was seen and felt during the opening night of the second GSYF Monday (April 18) at the Oval Plaza Stadium where spectacular sets of light shows and performances of the youth groups here in the city enlivened the event.

       Those who attached the event, such as Mindanao Commissioner Earl Saavedra of the National Youth Commission, were awed and amazed of what they have witnessed.

       “Gensan Summer Youth Festival is one of its kinds here in the entire country. That is why you should be thankful for the local government for having a mayor who is doing programs to develop the youth”, Saavedra said.

       “That is why I declare that Mayor Ronnel Rivera is the Superman of the Youth, because he is championing the cause of the youth and the children,” the commissioner added.

       Last year, when the GSYF was just starting, the NYC has already called the event as the “biggest youth festival in the country”.

       When you got a nationally acclaimed rock band such as Sponge cola jamming next to the youth, then such claims by the NYC can never be debunked.

       Not only that, rapper Gloc 9 will also be performing in the closing ceremony of GSYF on April 29.

       This was a result of last year’s GSYF, when the event is just still starting. When the mayor saw the potential of the program in favor of the youth, he then promised that he will make it “even bigger”.

       And certainly, the mayor lived up to his words. Through the help of the Integrated Barangay Affairs (IBA), City Administrator’s Office (CadminO), Youth Affairs and development Office (YADO)- all from the local  government unit of General Santos City – many highly anticipated events were added this year.

       Such of these are Arts and Crafts, Balay Tinunanan Leadership Training, Youth Bazaar, Gensan Summer Youth Camp, Fire Fighting Training, Its Gensan Now Tour, Hippie Float Light Parade, Mangrove and Bamboo Planting, Neon Fun Run, and Sarangani Bay Youth Experience.

       For the geek and gamers, a tournament for the popular mobile game Clash of Clans is to be hosted during the duration of GSYF.

       Returning events Neon Fun Run and Hippie Float Light Parade are expected to draw thousands of participants not only from gensan, but from sarangani and Polomolok as well.

       Since GSYF is not an exclusive event for Gensan youth alone, interested youth groups from the city’s neighboring provinces are welcome.

       Programs to steer the youth way from deviancy will also be included in the U4U activity of the City Population and Management Office (CPMO).

       For the Mayor, the GSYF is a way of the local government to make sure that the youth in the city will be taken care of.

       “I find the Gensan Sumer Youth Festival as an opportunity to discover our youth’s potential, whether it is for sports, music, or academics. Not only we are helping on this, we are also increasing their awareness to social issues and involvement to civic activities,” Rivera explained.

       “We are not just creating another youth program. We are trying to institutionalize a program for the youth and by the youth,” he stated.

       GSYF has three mayor components: Youth Convergence, youth and the arts, and Summerlympics. All of these are conceptualized to holistically improve different improve different growth aspects of the youth.

       This year’s GSYF theme is “Mugbaon ka! Maglipay ta! Dali Na!” (Be Molded! Be Festive! We Grow! Let’s Go!) By: Gemma Roda