What can YOU(th) do?

MIKHAELA SEECHUNG

“H’wag makisabat. Nag-uusap ang mga matatanda. [Do not butt in. The adults are talking.]”;

“Bata ka pa. Marami ka pang kakaining bigas. [You’re still young. You still have a lot to learn.]”;

“Papunta ka pa lamang, pabalik na ako. [Been there, done that.]”

Many of the progressive youth often are looked down upon by the older generations with the repetitive expressions mentioned. Any form of opinion, sentiment, or perception happens to be invalidated and belittled for the reason that such expressions came from someone younger. It is as if wisdom only comes with age.

Many progressive youth boldly take up challenges that even the government itself are too sensitive to tackle– teenage pregnancy, vagrancy, drugs, and many delicate, but real problems in society. Sometimes, the stagnancy leads to youth taking matters into their own hands.

In 2016, the Philippines ranked 58th in the world on how effectively children can exercise and defend their rights in court. The Philippine law allows for collective action or group litigation; even for children– for instance, the landmark and renowned case of Oposa v. Factoran (G.R. No. 101083, July 30, 1993) were all minors who were duly represented by and joined by their respective parents together in an advocacy to (1) cancel all existing timber license agreements in the country; (2) cease and desist from receiving, accepting, processing, renewing or approving new timber license agreements. The Supreme Court upheld the Philippine constitution and indeed, ruled the right to a balanced and healthy ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature (11, Sec. 16 of the 1987 Constitution), by the doctrine of intergenerational responsibility.

It is this present generation’s right and responsibility to conserve and protect the environment that everyone shares, and to sue on behalf of the future generations (yet unborn) to stop further damage. With strategic support and judicial mechanisms, the progressive movement of the youth can reach to the unconventional, yet marginalized, sectors. It may be a hard pill to swallow, but conservative lawmakers have to stop and drop personal beliefs that are a hindrance to actually helping the people in the grassroot levels. Environmental sustainability heavily relies on the doctrine of intergenerational responsibility. Not only does it protect the environment, it helps bind and build communities together. In the long-run, it can help nation-building itself.

To further localize this, and to put it in a closer perspective, Oriental Mindoro Provincial Ordinance No. 1452022, “An Ordinance Regulating the Extraction, Removal and Disposition of Boulder-Sized Volcanic Rock Float Deposits (Armour Rocks) Within The Territorial Jurisdiction of the Province of Oriental Mindoro, and For Other Purposes”, have provoked a number of Mindoro residents and provided the ideal circumstances where the Oposa Doctrine may be of relevance. Though claimed that the ordinance is not promining, protesters reason that it negates the mining moratorium (Provincial Ordinance No. 001-2002). Protesters may be plaintiffs and argue that the newly approved ordinance is a direct violation of the 25-year moratorium that which explicitly prohibits “any person or business entity to engage in land clearing, prospecting, exploration, drilling, excavation, mining, and transport of mineral ores in furtherance of and/or preparatory to all forms of mining operations for a period of 25 years.”

To see and recognize the rights of every Filipino is without a doubt important; however, it is with heavy responsibility that laws and policies must be ensured to protect the given rights. Decades of irreversible destruction have been imprinted on the environment, and the best solution is to stop it from getting worse.July 28, 2022: the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution recognizing the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment as a human right. This is how the UN delicately upholds the people’s rights and supports more than a thousand civil society groups world wide.

Seeing how a small bold step could easily escalate into a world- wide effective resolution is truly astonishing. May this write-up inspire the youth who are struggling to find their place in this fight. The youth unquestionably belongs in the front-line just as much as how medical professions care for our health, how our military personnels defend our peace– the youth’s participation is as much important for the progressive youth partakes on the uneasy and uncomfortable societal problems which conservative lawmakers keep running away from.

The youth fights for the human rights of every and all generations. Young people are at the very forefront of democracy standing up for those who choose not to and for those who are incapable to.

Unsolicited Inheritance

“now, it’s a matter of inheriting or breaking this cycle, the cycle of this intergenerational agony.” a wreak havoc a cycle attached to boundless pain ingrained within the generation’s outlook incarcerated but not forsaken groping in the light and nightmares grieving caused by trauma colliding against the halted grail refusing to reap the consequences thus, voices keep deterring from heir enduring from something that is not our fault imprisoned with pain that quite literally lives inside us hearing our inner child crying for a leeway that could be sought as it caused us distress of the past and atrocious fuss choosing not to be an heir to this legacy, of the ruthless vicious pattern of torment, this could not be your destiny, this is not the generation of young impotent now, it’s a matter of inheriting or breaking this cycle, the cycle of this intergenerational agony.