A Walk For A Cause: Joining the People's March for Environmental Justice
Recently, a movement was introduced in our organization —the Circle K International. Since our organization is actively supporting voluntary services, outreach programs and environmental movements, we were invited to join the march for a cause, wherein different universities, localities, non-government organizations from around the region and colleges have gathered and advocating for the concerns to raise in the Provincial office.
Photo taken from the official email sent to me as an invitation after I signed up in the Google form.
The concerns that the people were pushing for the government to consider were as follows:
- for the operation of Palm Plantation in Candoni City to stop,
- mining and dredging,
- to support the fishermen folks through protecting the 15 km municipal waters, and;
- clean energy, etc.
I wouldn't tackle much details of the concerns mentioned because I don't intend to be more political in this blog. I only wanted to share my experiences on this day. If you're curiosity won, you may look it up on Google instead.
Assembly Time!
The assembly time was 9:00 am, in front of the San Sebastian Cathedral since the Nuns have participated also in the event.
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We waited for other delegates and while waiting, the band leader gave out notes about the event and taught us how to sing the chant. We're going to sing it while walking towards the Provincial Capitol lobby. They also gave out banners and placards.
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The march started around 10:00 am already, under the scorching heat of the sun, we rallied towards the Capitol. I've heard from the lead that almost a thousand people have joined in that march. With that number, it surely paused the traffic on some intersections around downtown area going to Ayala Capitol Central until we reached the lobby of the Capitol building.
Gladly, the drivers didn't complain and I guess, they're already used to these kind of things. When they have concerns about the public transport system, they've also done this. They patiently waited until all of us could pass the roads safely. The destination isn't that far, it's a few streets away but it's the heat that's tiring us out. I understand the concern and I greatly support them, that's the reason why I joined. However, I really wished that they have started it much earlier or maybe around 7:00 am, so it wouldn't be too hot for all the people who came. Especially, there's a few elderly in the crowd who obviously looked not happy with it. Instead of chanting properly, we doubled our pace to reach the place faster.
Discussion Proper
We were guided to the seats available in the lobby upon arrival. There was a representative who discussed the concerns in details and their action plan to resolve the problems. It was an in-depth discussions. It should be nice if I could hear it until the end but I have a shift in the evening and I don't have any sleep yet. After 30 minutes of discussion, I let our President know that I'll be leaving first, then walked out silently as possible, so I wouldn't interrupt the ongoing discussion.
For quite some time, it's also good to be updated with the current situations of our localities. If I haven't signed up to join here, I wouldn't be able to know these issues such as about the Palm Plantation and Municipal Waters. This just shows how detached I am to the world. My life circulates around work, school, and rest only that I couldn't care about matters like those.
Anyways, that's all I could share for now. Thanks a lot for reading my blogs as always!