June 16 - 30, 2018
OPINION
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY
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Breaking
Point
By Rosette Correa
Ralph Waldo Emerson, American
philosopher, essayist and poet,
once said, “All promise outruns
performance.” Nothing could be
farther from this truth. A promise can
always be broken, but if a promise is
made by a politician, born with a silver
spoon in his mouth, with his political
career handed to him on a silver
platter because of his surname, then
you’ll have a leader who feels he is
ruling an autocracy. He will find a way
to make his promises happen even if
it means earning the ire of the entire
nation, ransoming a project with
taxpayers money the way the Sheriff
of Nottingham did to the people of
Nottinghamshire, and ignoring every
possible outcry of a nation who pays
his salary. Afterall, his performance as
a leader is questionable and lackluster,
so keeping a promise is paramount.
The Trudeau Liberal government
will implement the legalization of
marijuana on July 1. What a lot of
people don’t know is that Canada
has signed three drug-control treaties
which commit us and dozens of other
countries to banning a long list of
drugs, including marijuana: the 1961
Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs,
the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic
Substances, and the 1988 Convention
Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic
Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.
Implementing the new law on July
1 will make Canada a violator of the
treatise, therefore, can be sued by the
world court, just like it did to Uruguay.
Signatory countries are required to
criminalize cannabis, just like non-
medical opiates and cocaine.
Canada has supported these
Bulong
Pulungan
By Deedee Siytangco
Reprinted from Manila Bulletin
ANGEL THOUGHTS
‘Individually we are a drop,
but together we are an ocean.’—
Ryunosuke Satoro
‘Unity does not mean sameness.
It means oneness of purpose’—Pricilla
Sharer
The Youth for a United World
(YUW), youth members of the Focolare
Movement, will be holding Genfest
from July 6 to 8, at the World Trade
Center. The Genfest is an international
meeting of young people who want to
show the world that a united world is
an Ideal worth living for, organizers told
the Bulong Pulugan forum last week.
Very gung-ho about the GenFest
were Karelle Bulan and Gio Francisco,
millennials who are in the movement,
who are passionate, and who belong
to the social service group, YUW. This
is the first time the international youth
conference will be held in Asia, and
the Philippines was a popular choice
as the venue. Some 3,000 youngsters
belonging to different cultures,
religions, and countries will come
Promises, promises
treatises
before
the
Trudeau
government came into power, because
of their “promise” which led to their
victory in 2015. These conventions,
legally binding on some 73 nations
in the fight against drug smuggling,
has been honoured by Canada all
these years. The Trudeau government
has clearly signalled that the
current prohibitions surrounding
marijuana do not work, and
cracking down on organized
crime could be more easily
achieved by internalizing the
black market. It’s banking
on that unsupported
reason, along with the
one regarding marijuana
helping more patients
who need it. In short,
Canada will not be
honouring these treatises
and risk litigation rather
than turning back on a
“promise”. With uncertain
legislation on the effect of
the legalization in terms of
accessibility and impaired
driving, for instance, forcing
the legalization at this point is
certain to fail and more detrimental
to many, especially the youth.
Another promise the Trudeau
government had forced taxpayers to
buy is the Kinder Morgan pipeline.
No one asked them to buy it, but
because it was a promise to their
political supporters and the bullies
back in Texas, we, the taxpayers,
had to buy the whole deal, and pay
for it with our hard-earned money. In
addition to that, Chief Ian Campbell
of the Squamish First Nation says the
federal government failed to consult
or gain consent of First Nations for the
expansion of the oil pipeline, so they
have no choice but to try to protect their
land in the courts. He said that the first
pipeline built sixty years ago was done
without
their
approval.
Now
he
says,
they are
demanding the government a higher
bar of engagement that leads to true
environmental
assessments
that
look to First Nations consent. There
were seven First Nations, the cities
of Burnaby and Vancouver, and two
environmental groups that are asking
the court to overturn the federal
government’s decision to approve the
expansion of the $7.4-billion pipeline
from Edmonton to Burnaby, and
the Trudeau government completely
ignored them because of their
“promise” to the pipeline fat cats in the
US that have supported the Liberals
well.
Trudeau continues his “promise”
trip by getting an audience with Pope
Francis, and demanding that the
Pontiff come to Canada and formally
apologize to the First Nations people
for the indignation that the children
of residential schools established
years ago. While Trudeau
continues to twist peoples
arms, including the Pope’s, to
get what he wants, most First
Nations who are Catholic seek
healing rather than an apology,
since it was already given by
the Church. They also seek
reparation from the Canadian
government in the form of
programs that can help them
move on. Of course, Trudeau
does not hear that, and insists that
the Pope’s apology, a promise of
his, is what will make things alright in
his books.
While promises are meant to be
broken, it appears that Trudeau doesn’t
want to break his. After all, it’s what won
him the votes. According to pundits,
if he were to run today, however, he
would lose, simply because people
saw under the facade of the smile,
and his inability to answer questions
when there wasn’t a script. This time,
golden boy will not get his way when
he realizes his promises mean nothing
to many Canadians.●
Genfest in Manila
together to promote unity.
The YUW springs from
the Focolare movement that started
within the Catholic Church. Focolare
was founded by Chiara Lubich during
World War II. She dedicated herself to
the service of the Lord through love
and with other women inspired by
her zeal, the movement flourished.
The YUW started in 1973, from the
Focolare in Italy. This year, it will be
the first time it will be held in Asia
and outside Europe, so this will be a
special GenFest.
Thousands of youth from all over
the world, moved by the same ideal of
unity, will share experiences, manifest
artistic expressions, participate in
workshops, and do social action
among people of different cultures,
races, and social origins, among
Christians of various denominations
and people of different religions and
diverse beliefs.
With the theme “Beyond All
Borders,” this 11th edition of the
Genfest aims to let young people
experience crossing cultures and
GENFEST MOVES AT BULONG PULUNGAN From left: Korelle Bulan, Gio Francisco, Usec George
Apacble, Paolo Pangan, moderator Deedee Siytangco, Sarah Finch, and Jullie Yap Daza (Image by
Ed Santiago)
traditions, find best practices, tools,
and projects that would help them
achieve sustainable change and
realize that everyo ne is a member of
one human family despite diversities.
We met Saran Finch, program
director of the Genfest, and we were
WWW.PHILIPPINEASIANNEWSTODAY.COM
awed by her passion and commitment
to the mission of the Focolare. An
actress in England by profession, she
had been a member since her teen
years and while she was a lukewarm
Christian then, her involvement in the
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