Do not be alarmed, all the radioactive material dumped by Japan to the Pacific Ocean, and emitted into the air will not affect the Philippines!” This in no April Fools’ joke, it is the real thing.
The Senate hearing on the possible effects of the radioactive fall out from the nuclear catastrophe in Japan, invited guests from the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute(PNRI), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), National Meat Inspection Services (NMIS), Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), Department of Health, and Bureau of Customs. It was an inquiry which sought to allay the fears of the public in view of the many conflicting theories.
“Bilog ang mundo!”, we like to say, and if we believe that, then, what goes around comes around.
All the more, we have the one Mother Earth, we are fellow travelers in this planet. This phenomena is beyond borders of geography or nationality. We should recognize, that the Pacific Ocean which is identified by Japan, is the same Pacific Ocean that is in our own shores. Will the fish which drink from radioactive waters in Japan reach the Philippines? Think about that. The air that we breath has no borders, we share the same sun , moon and stars, when we look up the sky, all the world looks up the same sky. Will the clouds that absorb the moisture from Japan, cause acid rain?
This is why we share the same humanity, the same consequences of our lack of environmental consciousness. Remember the slogan: ”THINK LOCAL, ACT GLOBAL!”, whatever happened to that slogan? Did we just say it for show?
By this time, all the people in the world, should have waken up to the reality of being a global citizen. Most Filipinos have relatives abroad, in all the corners of the world, and there are more Filipinos aiming to find their own places in other continents. They are there mostly to work for a living, to study, or as wives of foreigners, or as undocumented aliens. In the same manner, we have seen an influx of all kinds of nationalities in our city. We even have a national football team composed of “AZKALS” (asong kalye-mongrels), meaning of Filipino and foreign parenthood. By and large, there is no place in the world where there is no Filipino, is it not?
This is the reason that there should be a paradigm shift in our way of thinking, and in the educational program of our schools, to prepare our citizens to face and compete in the world market.
So, what happens in Japan, Libya or Greenland, affects a Filipino family at home, and what is the government doing about it?
April fools are people who believe in unverified information, which is mostly fabricated or fictitious, the thing about radioactive fall out from Japan, is far worst that whatever the brightest scientists have foreseen, or predicted. We are not April fools so, we take the information about “safe radioactive fall out” with a grain of salt. Think again: ”ONE WORLD, ONE EARTH, ONE PLANET”, where can we go?