Let’s not forget the youth

IN 1791, when the Constitution of the United States of America was ratified allowing “a well-regulated militia for the security of a free state, and giving the right of the people to keep and bear arms,” nobody expected that three centuries later, America will face major problems like firearms-related death and injury among children and adolescents, increased youth gun-carrying, and weaning of the psychological effects of exposure to gun violence, among others.

In the same effect, when former President Ferdinand Marcos institutionalized a policy to encourage emigration to stimulate the economy of the Philippines in the 1970s, outward labor migration has been steadily increasing since then. However, with the government support for the policy of emigration, subsequent administrations thereafter lacked concrete policies for employment in the country, resulting to high unemployment and poor living standards, encouraging thousands of Filipinos to seek employment overseas (Center for Migrant Advocacy). The International Labor Office discovered that one in five permanent international Filipino migrants belongs to the 15 – 24 age category.