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WHEN WILL I FIND SOMEONE WHO WILL STAY

WHEN WILL MY FEELINGS EVER STAY FOR SOMEONE

I WANT TO BE WITH YOU. I want to go to church with you. Read books with you. Go to the movies with you. Stay at home with you. Take naps. Sleep with you. Have coffee dates with you. Dates with you. Intellectual conversations. Listen to music with you. Hear you laugh. Laugh with you, laugh at memes. Touch you. Hug you. Kiss you. Be with you.

I can’t suppress any of these feelings anymore. Taboo or not, I like you, and I want to take every opportunity that God graciously gives, or the forces of the universe that allows to hang out with you.

I miss you. If I can’t be with you romantically, at least, let me be your friend.

       Directed and written by Mike Sandejas, Dinig Sana Kita is a film worth of your time and sentiments. Starred by Zoe Sandejas as Niña, a rocker girl with parental issues, and Romalito Mallari as Kiko, a deaf student in search of his biological parents, the film offered a lot of insights to be explored and pondered on.

      First, the film has broaden my knowledge on the deaf community. Through Niña and Kiko, I learned to appreciate the deaf community through the beauty of their characters and relationships. Also, as a result of watching the film, it made me want to learn sign language too, so that I can also communicate well enough with the deaf community.

      Second, it made me realize how I should be more contented and grateful with what I already have. According to the popular saying, we only want everything we don’t have. As part of human nature, we, people, fail to realize that we are already brought by our own greed. For instance, Niña can hear well with both of her ears, but abuses it through loud music to drone out her anxiety attacks. Also, she was also blessed with both of her parents, even though she is struggling with issues that only needs to be communicated well. On the other hand, Kiko considered Niña as lucky because she has everything he wanted to have: a good hearing and a home. That instance in the film made me realize that happiness does come after appreciation.

      Last insight that I have earned from the film was that we are more than our own disability. We should not let our inhibitions stop us from pursuing what we love. Just like how Kiko had overcome his hearing impediment by defying the odds through dancing. That, alone, made me realize that if I could realize my own potential and strive for the best, I would be able to excel academically, socially and towards my life goals and ambitions.

       Talks were starting to brim again on the Senate about how the Philippines’ should address its need to increase the country’s energy supply. It was stated in an article from CNN Philippines that there were a few talks about it from the Senate Committee on Energy; Secretary Alfonso Cusi of the Department of Energy did discuss that they are indeed looking forward to improve other sources of energy, coal and renewable energy included, and also opening the table for the discussion of considering nuclear power as a possible source (Estanislao, 2016). Debates about considering nuclear power as a source of energy for the Philippines have been rampant and endless due to the fact that many developed countries are already using it, and have already built as many nuclear power plants as they can. Before talks about how nuclear power should be used here in the Philippines, people must consider its concerns in terms of the environment, the economy, and its geographic limitations.

      Climate change is a result of global warming. In a brochure published by Nuclear Energy Agency (2015), fossil fuels produce more carbon emissions – a chemical that contributes to global warming when released in the atmosphere – than nuclear power. 67.7% of the production of electricity goes to fossil fuels, while only 10.8% is produced by nuclear power (NEA, 2015). Since the high production of fossil fuels results to high carbon emissions, if only nuclear power, which produces less carbon, is only produced more, there is a possibility that global warming rates might decrease. However, its affirmative contributions to reducing global warming rates would not be able to justify its potential environmental risks and hazards. Given the previous nuclear power-related incident, the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, it resulted to a destruction of an ecosystem in the area. Today’s called Red Forest remains one of the most contaminated areas in the world. It is the forest where “pine trees went red and died in response to a massive blast of radiation” (Mulvey, 2006, para. 67). Animals (horses, cattles) living in this forest also died or stopped reproducing (Mulvey, 2006). If nuclear power were used as a source of energy, the environmental dangers would be too risky, given the massive life and biodiversity, for the Philippines to handle.

      Economically, the establishment of nuclear power plants would provide ample employment opportunities for the country. According to a publication by Nuclear Energy Institute (2014), “[the] operation of a nuclear plant requires 400 to 700 direct permanent jobs. These jobs pay 36 percent more than average salaries in the local area” (p. 2). This could help the country in alleviating the eminent problem of unemployment. In spite of this, there are still heavy economic implications if the establishment of nuclear power plants is pursued. First, the capital cost, which includes the construction and the financing costs, are direly expensive (World Nuclear Association, 2016). According to the World Nuclear Association (2016), there are also additional expenses while sustaining the nuclear power plant such as operating costs, system costs, external costs and tax costs. Since we are still in debt from previous administrations and we lack the current technology for pursuing nuclear power, our current economic state would not be able to handle and manage the expenditures of sustaining a nuclear power plant.  

      Lastly, in terms of geography, one of nuclear power’s prime advantages is its availability of nuclear power plants. Unlike fossil fuels and other renewable sources where they still need to find the location where it is available, a nuclear power plant can be established and built by man from economic resources on a certain location, which can now produce loads of nuclear energy. As long as the assessment of the location site for building a nuclear power plant meets the proper requirements such as proximity to grid, water supply like what Boyd (1997) has said, the production of nuclear power can now be limitless. However, the geographic advantage is also our country’s geographic limitation.  Considering the incident on Fukushima last 2011, according to a news article from the Telegraph, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had already warned the Japanese government about the safety rules of the Fukushima power plant and predicted the impact of strong earthquakes and natural disasters on the said plant (Swinford & Hope, 2011). Since our country lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire, we are prone to earthquakes and frequent volcanic activity. It would reckless for us to build nuclear power plants without mulling over our own geographic limitations.

      These environmental, economic, and geographical concerns should be all taken into consideration by the government and its stakeholders. It is important to take into account all the possibilities and limitations of using nuclear power as a source of energy in the Philippines, while still bearing in mind what is best for the wellbeing of the citizens in our country.

Bibliography:

Boyd, F. (1997, March). Siting of Nuclear Power Plants. Retrieved 05 October 2016 from https://canteach.candu.org/Content%20Library/20051513.pdf

Estanislao, A. (2016, September 1). Nuclear power: A go or no?. Retrieved October 05, 2016, from http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2016/09/01/nuclear-power-bataan-powerplant-alternative-source-energy-senate-power-crisis.html

Mulvey, Stephen (2006, April 4). Chernobyl – Part One. BBC News. Retrieved 05 October 2016 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4843316.stm

Mulvey, Stephen (2006, April 20). Wildlife defies radiation. BBC News. Retrieved 05 October 2016 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4923342.stm

Nuclear Energy: Combating Climate Change. (2015, October). [Brochure] N.P.: Nuclear Energy Agency

Nuclear Energy Institute (2014, April). Nuclear Energy’s Economic Benefits — Current and Future. Retrieved 05 October 2016 from http://www.nei.org/CorporateSite/media/filefolder/Policy/Papers/jobs.pdf?ext=.pdf

Swinford, S. & Hope, C. (2011, March). Japan earthquake: Japan warned over nuclear plants, WikiLeaks cables show. Retrieved 05 October 2016 from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8384059/Japan-earthquake-Japan-warned-over-nuclear-plants-WikiLeaks-cables-show.html

       After watching the symposium ‘Speaking of Devcom: Conversations with Devcom’s Finest’, I started wondering about my end goal would be, what would I commit myself into in the future. I asked myself if I could also become one of those distinguished alumna who have achieved so much towards their career as a Development Communication practitioner. Later on, I also realized that all of them are indeed pursuing a noble cause, and that is to commit towards the greater good of a large number of people.