For someone who grew up close to the sea, World Oceans Day brings a reverberating meaning.
Far beyond its recreational value is the fact that about one billion people, including, us, Filipinos, rely on fish and seafood for they are the main source of protein.
World Oceans Day is one of the two events, which are close to our heart as Filipinos and are being marked this week and on Monday, June 12 – World Oceans Day on Thursday, June 8, and our 125th Independence Day.
The WOD theme celebration this year is “Tides Are Changing”.
The theme hopes to “generate a new wave of excitement towards cherishing and protecting the ocean” – which covers the majority of the Earth – and the entirety of our blue planet and provide a perspective on “how Earth is more than it may seem.”
WOD also reminds us that we “need to conserve our wonderful marine resources for future generations.”
Equally significant are these facts vital to our daily lives as shared by the United Nations:
- Oceans produce at least 50 percent of the planet’s oxygen.
- The ocean is key to the global economy with an estimated 40 million people being employed by ocean-based industries by 2030.
- Oceans absorb about 30 percent of carbon dioxide produced by humans, buffering the impacts of global warming.
- Oceans host 80 percent of the world’s biodiversity.
We thank our God, the Creator of land, mountains and seas, for blessing us with the bounty and beauty of the seas and coasts, especially in our country of thousands of islands.
These blessings have truly liberated billions of people from the pangs of hunger and the ill effects of malnutrition.
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Another gift we are grateful for is freedom, which we are celebrating this week.
We join Filipinos across the nation and the diaspora as we mark the 125th anniversary of our independence and freedom from foreign domination.
Spearheading preparations for the celebration is the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.
The theme of the June 12 celebration is “Kalayaan. Kinabukasan. Kasaysayan. (Freedom. Future. History.)”.
NHCP has organized a 20-day line-up of nationwide activities until June 30. The activities include parades, concerts and job fairs.
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Another highlight supported by NHCP is the 2023 World Day Against Child Labor.
The day, launched by the International Labor Organization in 2002, will be observed also on June 12. It brings into the stream of public awareness the plight of children engaged in child labor and serves “as a catalyst for the growing worldwide movement against it.”
The observance is themed, “Social Justice for All. End Child Labor!”
ILO has underscored that the “abolition of child labor is a cornerstone of the aspiration of social justice…”
The global labor organization has noted that for nearly two decades now, the world has been making steady progress in reducing child labor.
Child labor has been a major concern in the country, particularly in Negros Occidental, where a significant rate of incidence has been noted in many sugar farming areas. I remember serving as a local team leader for am ILO study on cases of child labor in a central Negros where young workers had also been reported in factories and other farming and fishing areas.
It is encouraging to note that the ILO campaign in the pursuit of creating safe spaces for children toward a child-labor free society has been gaining grounds.
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As we celebrate our Independence Day, we are reminded that, more significantly, we need liberation from the bondage of sin which we acquire when we accept Jesus Christ into highlighting our lives.
Happy Independence Day!
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You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. (Romans 6:18) – NWI
