Dangerous Playground: Addressing the issue on Child Soldiers

We had the third and last forum entitled “Dangerous Playground: Addressing the issue on Child Soldiers” in the Auditorium. I wasn’t able to attend the morning session although I was there early in the afternoon. First, I would like to give a brief explanation about our forum.

The Child Soldiers are the use of young children which takes three distinct forms: they could take part in hostilities, or they can be used in roles such as porters, spies, look outs or even sex slaves for both genders. The most disappointing part is that they could also be used for political advantage such as human shields or in propaganda.

We had 2 speakers which are Colonel Dickson Hermoso and Kervin Ras. Kervin was the first speaker, who happens to be my block mate in National Development. The first time I saw him I wasn’t surprised that he’d be a Soldier because he used to wear shirts that represents the army. He shared his experiences in Iraq and told us that it was really nerve-wracking to see a child dying because of the bombings. The second speaker is currently the Chief of Public Affairs Division and he told us that Child soldiering is rampant in the areas of the Southern Philippines. They are also deprived of food, shelter and most importantly, education. I really feel bad with the things that are happening not only in our country but in others as well. I really hope that there would come a time that all of these problems will be solved.

The Public Diplomacy Forum

Our second forum concentrated on Public Diplomacy and this is not new to us. As a CDA student, we’ve been exposed to this topic and I shall first give a description of Public Diplomacy.

According to the Planning Group for Integration of USIA into the Dept. of State:

"Public Diplomacy seeks to promote the national interest of the country through understanding, informing and influencing foreign audiences. It also describes the conduct of foreign policy by engagement with foreign publics.”

During the forum, they invited 3 speakers but unfortunately due to some reasons, only one speaker came. He is a representative from the Department of Tourism. He first talked about the recent Hostage Taking Fiasco that occurred and how this unexpected event affected our Tourism. He said that we should support our country and have a positive approach about it because it is the only way we could gain the trust of the foreigners. It could also attract many investors in our country. In order for our tourism to boom, they promote our country using the internet. It is the easiest way to attract foreigners so that they would know how beautiful our country is. We also had an open forum and there were some who expressed their sentiments and even questioned how did the Department of Tourism deal with the Hostage Taking. Although he said aggression doesn’t really help yet we could still do things that could have our Tourism improve again.

FORUM: Youth Development Programs

Last Saturday (August 14 2010), we attended a forum which was arranged by the SEM-CDA students that mainly talks about the Youth Development Programs which includes the World Vision, Child Hope Asia and Department of Education in MIMAROPA. The forum speaks about how child labour is one of the many concerns in the Philippines and, most disturbingly, one of the most rampant problems we face. We should help them in every way that we can because every child has the right to the most basic of necessities in life like a healthy environment, formal education, and most importantly, a loving family to come home to. One way to stop child labour is by giving them hope such as assistance in terms of financial needs and proper education.

Children living in the poorest family and in rural areas are most likely to be engaged in child labour. In our country, Child Labour is one of the social problems that still exist today. Based on the article that I’ve read from a study of Child Labour in the Philippines, International Labour Organization estimates that the government place the number of child labourers in the country at eight hundred thousand (800,000), but actual figures may be as high as five million (5,000,000). We really cannot deny the truth that every year, the number of child labourers rises.

In order for this to stop, we should ensure that each child in the country would be given a chance to go to school and that their education is of good quality which is the key to prevent child labour.

Foreign Policy Process

Last meeting, we talked about how to draft a policy paper. First the definition of a Foreign Policy which is also called the international relations policy that consists of strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve its goals in international relations. The first step is Decision Making. It is where we could set the goals and meetings and consultations with different institutions. Under this is the announcement of policy, identifying the national interest, collection of data and planning. Second step is the implementation of the policy so that it could be accomplished and executed already. Third step is the result and consequences, this would be hard because you’d get a lot of comments, whether violent or not. Last step is the Evaluation. In this process, revisions and adjustments are present. After this, we were told to draft a policy regarding the lecture that was discussed earlier.

PNOY: State of the Nation Address

Our newly elected President, His Excellency Benigno C. Aquino III has just delivered his first state of the nation address or SONA at Batasan Pambansa today and we were expecting his proposed plan of action. I was totally surprised with his speech. His speech talked about the fiscal crisis and corruption of the former Arroyo administration. Our President pointed out the budget deficit of the Republic of the Philippines, which is now at 196.7 Billion pesos which the former Administration overused and it was so disappointing because we didn’t even feel the funds that we were supposed to have. That’s why the result was our government are now in debt and inadequate incentives to use. Our President also emphasized the countless allegations such as Napocor's selling of losing value of electricity in 2004, Excessive importation of rice which only results rotten in the storage and the MRT's operation in the cheapest toll. Other problems are the results to bankruptcy forces the Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines to purchase the said assets, Improper use of calamity funds in pampanga worth of 108 million. Also, the funds for the people affected by Typhoon Ondoy and Peping. He would like to pursue the Fiscal Responsibility Bill, Whistle Blower’s Bill and to amend the law. It was good that he thought of filing a case against those tax evaders and extra judicial killings. The proposal that could help the state is the ff: Build operate and transfer project, public- private partnership, settle the problem in Mindanao and CPP-NPA and widespread ceasefire. I hope our newly elected President would make these things possible God Bless Him!

Moro Islamic Liberation Front

As far as I could remember, this was a free day for us. However, Miss taught us first how to make a decent and proper paper and she used the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) as an example. We also discussed how Malaysia is relevant to the MILF and so as the Organization of Islamic Conference. It is the OIC which has helped solve the problems with the MNLF and in the year 2001, during President Arroyo’s Administration, Malaysia has become the Third-Party negotiator during her years of presidency. Although Malaysia is a multi-racial state, the biggest percentage of these is Islam. We just thought that the task of Malaysia should just be given to Indonesia.

P-Noy's SPEECH at the 43rd ASEAN Foundation Day

Last August 9, 2010, President Aquino led the celebration of the 43rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foundation Day, vowing that the Philippines will fulfill its international commitments without undermining and forsaking its national interests. As I read the whole speech, I was really amazed because he said that the Philippines will be “a good neighbor, a productive partner, and a consensus-builder” to neighbors in Southeast Asia which shows a very positive approach to the country. He also said that the Philippines, under his administration, will fulfill its international commitments without undermining and forsaking its national interests. A Philippines that is an exemplar, as well as exponent, of the rule of law including international law is a country attractive to investments which is totally correct. Also, he added that the Philippines that harmonizes its national interest with its international responsibilities, is a nation that can earn, and maintain its dignity and self-respect whether on a bilateral or multilateral level. We could achieve this by making our country open for investments. Furthermore, I would also like to commend P-Noy for using culture and the arts in order to promote peace and understanding within other nations. It would strengthen cooperation on several fronts: political, economic and social. I really hope that P-Noy would really put this into action, not just only in words.