Youth’s future not for sale

We, young people, desire to be nurtured and developed in a nationalistic and profreedom environment—in a country where sovereignty and its people are given more importance than foreign interests. However, with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit, our economic freedom and national sovereignty are at stake, thus remaining elusive.

It is for this reason that we stand in solidarity with the basic sectors of our society, with church institutions and the vast majority of the people in exposing and opposing the vested interests of powerful nations.

We view with much disgust the globalization agenda that the Apec is inflicting on our people, especially to the youth. We say that this meeting is espousing exclusive economic cooperation that is pro-profit in nature and does not have a heart for the poor majority. We abhor watching the Philippine government all too enthusiastically subservient to Apec and its agenda.

One of the main priorities of the upcoming Apec Summit is the so-called Regional Economic Integration, where trade in service and global value chain will be propagated. Those in the business sector believe this is something good for the country; the ecumenical youth says otherwise, as this will exclude the developing countries like the Philippines more and subject them to more oppression.

Trade in service, for instance, will institutionalize and systematize the trading of people for work abroad. And the vicious perennial problem of migration and what it brings to overseas Filipino workers will all the more challenge us. The global value chain, on the other hand, will further depress the already low wages in the country. In the Apec meeting, the leaders will be talking how developing countries can offer an appealing labor force—lower wages and readily available human resources. They will be talking about how the Philippines can contribute to a growing factory of cheap labor in Asia.

We call on all Christian youth to reflect and study critically what globalization brings to us and, more importantly, to take a stand. We should not let powerful countries and multinational corporations dictate our place in the world economy, where we can contribute our gifts and graces in nation building. Our future is at stake.  More than ever, we should make our voices louder in denouncing the evils of globalization. We are human beings created in the image of God, and no one is entitled to treat us as commodities.

Now is the time to do this. We can no longer be kept in silence.

—LISSA BELLE R. BROWN, general secretary, JIMARIE SNAP T. MABANTA, chair, Kalipunan ng Kristyanong Kabataan sa Pilipinas, [email protected]