Echoes From

BY JOHNNY DAYANG

The Philippine Resolution Highway

The 21st century is an interesting and challenging time for humankind. With humanity's population zooming to approximately seven billion this 2011, the chances for man's survival on earth have become more and more, a struggle for sustainability.

Not only are governments today concerned with progress and the equitable distribution of development; governments are also equally concerned with whether or not man will survive the challenges that come with increasing population and human activity.

Man's prowess as an intelligent species has led to a level in human development where science and technology have translated to the altering of the environment. The benefits of this development are most felt in our triumph against diseases; in the lengthening of life spans; and in the technology-induced ease that characterize our everyday life.

The scientific breakthroughs have also given man his ultimate weapon: the power to communicate with his fellow man - regardless of time, space, and the traditional barriers of language, class, political standpoint or religious belief. This was made possible with the dawning of the Information Age.

The Information Age is upon us. Yes, even here, in the 7,100 islands that is the Philippines, where more than half of the 42,000 barangays remain sunk in poverty and despair.

Our lot is really no different from the rest of the world. No nation today can stand and say they do not have problems of their own. The world is fraught with challenges. There is climate change, population explosion, food insecurity, energy crisis, wars and economic instability.

And yet, precisely because the challenges will necessarily be best promoted and projected through information. And when it comes to information dissemination, there is no other champion that can best deliver the goods than the media.

We, the members of the press must lay claim to this immense power to communicate. We must take it upon ourselves to maximize the technological resources in our midst to establish what we may call, "the Philippine Resolution Highway."

As a media united in facing the challenges of this century, the Philippine Resolution Highway will serve as the vital link for ideas, communication, understanding, and consensual action - all directed towards development and progress.