OPINYON
May 29-June 04, 2019
Global youths, citizens led simultaneous
under peace with respect on
peace walk events
mutual
coexistence.
This
ON May 25th, “6th Annual
Commemoration
of
the
Declaration of World Peace and
the Peace Walk” was held at
about 126 places in 77 countries
around the world including
Australia, China, Germany,
India, Russia, South Africa,
the Philippines, and United
States of America. Under the
theme of “The World’s Call
for Peace, Urging Support for
the Declaration of Peace and
Cessation of War (DPCW)”,
the event was hosted by
Heavenly Culture, World Peace,
Restoration of Light (HWPL),
an international peace NGO
affiliated with the UN ECOSOC
and the UN DGC.
At the day when this
declaration was proclaimed, on
May 25th in 2013, the peace
walk of global citizens initiated
with the slogan of “Let every
person in this world become
a messenger of peace”. This
peace walk has been carried out
simultaneously in various places
all over the world in May every
year with the aim of promoting
the role and participation of
individuals in the international
community to achieve peace and
spreading a culture of peace.
In South Korea, where
the declaration was proclaimed
6 years ago, more than 150,000
citizens gathered and took part
in the “Peace Letter Campaign”
to call for the support for the
DPCW in order to develop it
into a legally binding document.
The DPCW, the crystallized
form of the Declaration of
World
Peace,
addresses
principles of conflict resolution
and international cooperation
for peacebuilding such as the
respect on international law,
peaceful dispute settlement, and
spreading a culture of peace.
Chairman Man Hee
Lee of HWPL announced the
significance of the DPCW
by saying “The DPCW that
permeates the will of global
citizens asks for the global
community to become one
Declaration advocates everyone
to cooperate for building peace
so that there will be no more
productions of weapons that kill
lives and no more invasions of
other countries. As the national
leaders support the 10 articles
and 38 clauses of the DPCW and
religions harmonize for peace,
the global community can take
the road to peace.”
Mr.
Young
Min
Chung, General Director of
the International Peace Youth
Group (IPYG), an organization
that leads the “Peace Letter
Campaign” worldwide, said
“Many people are taking part
in this work since they found
confidence in the DPCW that
this hope can be realized for
sure. The DPCW is perfectly
composed of the prevention of
conflicts, dispute settlement,
and maintenance of a world
of peace. In addition, it is the
possibility of realization. It has
been only three years since the
DPCW was proclaimed, but we
have gathered a lot of support
‘No pain, no gain’ in education
AS many would agree, surviving
college is not an easy task
and completing a degree takes
a significant chunk of this
challenge. We also know that
no matter how difficult it may
be, many Filipino parents are
determined to have their children
obtain that college degree,
whatever it takes. This has been
long part of family tradition and
values through the years. The
ultimate benchmark for success
is usually associated with gainful
employment and self-fulfillment
in post-college careers.
On the other hand,
many people equate not getting
any college degree with failure.
While I do believe this is a
common misconception and
not necessarily correct, I also
think that college is an excellent
training ground for taking on the
easiest and most difficult tasks in
life. College provides the soon-
to-be professional readiness
tools necessary in embarking
on new tasks, more complex
conditions, and in building his or
her future. Success is measured
not by the level of education
one obtains but by the quality of
life and sense of fulfillment one
gains. Now that the country’s
educational system has shifted
into K to 12, it’s now giving our
young generation more time to
prepare themselves into the real
deal adult life has to offer.
Early this year, I was
fortunate to be awarded as
one of the outstanding alumni
of my college, the College
of Arts and Social Sciences
(CASS) at the Mindanao State
University – Iligan Institute
of Technology (MSU-IIT) in
Iligan City. I personally received
the recognition from MSU-IIT
Chancellor Dr. Sukarno Tanggol
and Dean Dr. Marie Joy Banawa
in a gala organized by CASS.
Alongside my college friend and
now a colleague in government
service, Bangsamoro Transition
Authority
Commissioner
Mussolini Sinsuat Lidasan, and
several other outstanding leaders
in government and the private
sector, I walked up the CASS
stage once again. In 1999, I first
walked up this stage to receive
the College Leadership Award,
having served as student council
president and vice-president
during my senior and junior
years.
Awardees
were
recognized for their professional
achievement and contributions
to the holistic development
of society. With our chosen
professional fields, the social
consciousness and humanism
taught during our time in college
still remain and are embedded
in the very DNA that make up
our successful career paths. The
outstanding alumni recognition
was likewise accorded to
Atty. Alizedney
Ditucalan,
Atty. Margarito Pacilan, Jr.,
Ms. Cheryl Jarales, Ms. Nita
Akiatan, Prof. Raymund Pasion,
Judge Lily Joy Labayo-Patria,
Ms. Elsa Montemor, Ms. Leigh
Duhaylungsod-Paylaga,
Atty.
Jaime Lopoz Jr, Prof. Neil
Satoquia, Judge Renato Tampac,
and (Ret.) Col. Seigfred Espina.
This year’s batch of awardees is a
good mix of lawyers, government
officials and employees, private
sector and civil society leaders,
politicians, professors, judges,
and retired military personnel.
Awardees were also recognized
based on personal achievement
and the current positions being
held in both government and the
private sector.
On the same night,
Photo Courtesy of PIA
at the national level as well as
the support from the citizens all
across the globe.”
According
to
the
official of HWPL, the DPCW
stresses on the role of citizens
as the most important peace-
making nucleus, and it is the
meaning of the peace walk to
show the collective voice of the
global citizens that voluntarily
conveys the message of peace.
Also, the supporting signatures
and letters for the DPCW by
approximately
1.3
million
citizens have been sent to their
respective President or Prime
Minister in 192 countries with
expectations for responses from
heads of each state.
At her congratulatory
speech, H.E. Difie Agyarko
Kusi, Ambassador of Embassy
of Ghana to Korea, encouraged
the active participation of the
civil society for the enactment of
the DPCW. “I can’t think of any
one region in the world where
there isn’t some conflict playing
out or erupting. We should all,
therefore, be grateful to HWPL
for being in the forefront of
the crusade to ‘construct the
defenses of peace in the minds
of men’ with their push for
the adoption of the DPCW by
the international community.
I would strongly urge all
right-thinking people to write
letters to leaders, lawmakers,
policymakers, heads of states, governments, and kings or
queens, to tell them how much
we are pinning our hopes on
them to support this declaration
and make it real,” she said.
H.E.
Juan
Jose
Plasencia, Minister Counsellor
of Embassy of Peru to the
Republic of Korea, spoke
through the interview about the
“Peace Letter Campaign”. “If
the government receives one
letter, probably there will be
no chance. If the government
receives hundreds of thousands
of letters, the government will
feel the pressure from the civil
society about the will of the
people. So, these letters are
very important. Groups of ones
will reach the people in the
responsible positions to hear the
voice of the people.”
“To say that you are
taking part in making the world
a better place is amazing for any
person. I hope that my presence
along with everybody else will
bring attention here and attention
to where we are trying to
accomplish. My personal reason
for participating in this event is
to know that I don’t sit back and
become a bystander. Rather, I’d
be an active participant hoping to
change the world. When people
look back on history or when I
look back on myself, I will be
proud of what I supported,” said
Danelle from the United States,
a participant of the peace walk.
CASS
professors
were
recognized for their valuable
contributions to research which
were published and presented
in the national and international
levels.
Turning emerald in education
Transforming
into
‘emerald’ with 35 years of
academic excellence, CASS
has completed another year of
quality education. The college
aims to produce scholars and
professionals as instruments
of humanism, socio-cultural
justice and equity. Students
are equipped with knowledge
and understanding on human
behavior, arts, language, history,
politics and society. While
MSU-IIT continues to uphold
integrity and excellence as an
academic institution, the faculty
and university administration
are proud of its contributions
to society through technology,
research, arts, and governance,
among others. For several
decades, this institution had
produced not only notable
leaders and outstanding citizens
in the country, but also high-
performing professionals in the
international community. CASS
has been recognized by the
Commission on Higher Education
as Centers of Development in
Filipino, History, and Sociology
and had attained the recognition
for Level IV accreditation by the
Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges
and
Universities
(AACCUP).
With the significant
achievements of its alumni, it
proves that CASS is determined
with its mission of promoting “a
peaceful and sustainable society
through the development of
globally competent, socially
responsible, culturally sensitive
and humanistic scholars and
professions.” In her message
during the gala, Dr. Banawa
emphasized that the most
significant treasure of the College
is its excellent and hardworking
faculty members.
“Our academic life
is a transition between failure
and success, pain and joy,
disappointment and blessings.
The most significant treasure
of CASS is its excellent and
hardworking teachers. Wisdom
and talent are the primary
characteristics of the teachers of
CASS,” Banawa said.
Holding on to what
we, professionals achieved in
our lives, it is always fitting to
look back at those years that
molded our young minds and
significantly influenced our
current values. While being
in school might be an agony
for many, one will never get to
where he or she is supposed to
be in the future without going
through such pain. As the old
saying goes, “no pain, no gain.”
(With Lou Ellen Antonio/PIA)