Seguerra urges participation in crafting Asean youth index

VIENTIANE, Laos — Singer Aiza Seguerra has called on his fellow youth leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to come up with a youth development index in addressing the concerns of young people in the region.

Seguerra, who was appointed by President Duterte as chair of the National Youth Commission (NYC), flew here on Sunday night to attend the Youth Interface Meeting of the 28th and 29th Asean summits.

“We want to encourage participation. We need the cooperation of everyone (in the Asean),” Seguerra told reporters in a chance interview at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok.

“We want to discuss the youth development index in the Asean level because we also want to adapt it to fine tune our processes in the NYC,” he added.

In particular, he said the Philippines would raise the issues regarding education, mental health and the rising human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection among the youth during the youth forum.

“While HIV cases are decreasing in our neighboring countries, the prevalence of HIV (among young Filipinos) in increasing,” Seguerra lamented.

“But our main thrust will be education,” he added.

Seguerra, a former child superstar before becoming a successful singer-songwriter, actively campaigned for Duterte in the May 9 elections.

His partner, theater actress and now Film Development Council of the Philippines chair Liza Diño, is the daughter of Martin Diño, the anti-crime advocate who withdrew from the presidential race to give way to Duterte. JE/rga