The Notre Dame of Jolo College community accommodated the Philippine Army Scout Ranger PCVE team and welcomed them to hold a Symposium on Countering Violent Extremism with mainly the youth as the audience on July 15, 2019. With them is a special guest who is an actor, athlete, peace advocate, and army reservist Gian Matteo F. Guidicelli III.

     The group arrived at 11:12 a.m. of the day and paid a courtesy visit to the college President – Fr. Eduardo M. Santoyo, OMI, PhD before they started the program at the school’s covered court. CGPA Lt. Gen. Macairog Alberto, the army chief, gave a statement of intent followed by a message from Cpt. Sherhannah S. Paiso, a Tausug-blooded army Cum Laude graduate.

     “We are all Filipinos,” 2Lt Guidicelli emphasizes as he offered an inspirational message to the audience. “Unity is the the number one solution to anything. We’re all Filipino people and I believe that we have to unite,” he continued. He also brought up how he trusts the military since it develops camaraderie like how sports do. “The youth is very strong but there is a lot of them that are not proud of being a Filipino. Now that ROTC is going to be back, it shall bring pride, nationalism and patriotism to the hearts of the youth.”

     When asked about the factors that contributed to the destruction of unity, he answered “social media”. “It is good but bad. All of us has voices but a lot of us feels so entitled. We have to know our place to avoid conflict.”

     The team has donated two units of mountain bicycles to the school and gave away shirts and prizes to the students in attendance. The program then concluded with photo ops at around 12:30 p.m.