Pockets of light

2011-11-11T22:09:00.000-08:00

In the year that passed, it was foretold that disasters will visit upon the planet. At the time, the Philippines was still reeling from the impact of the huge calamity Ondoy.

This year, everyone was shocked at the Christchurch temblor, the even bigger tremor in Chile, Haiti, flooding in China and fairly recently the gigantic earthquake and tidal wave – tsunami – in Japan that destroyed the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, as well as the tremendous flooding in the Philippines, Thailand, among so many other natural and man-made catastrophes.

Then came economic systems collapsing and governments wobbling. Still and all, a number of people following the events around the world know that there is something good in the change of regimes in Europe brought about by the EuroZone Crisis. A group calling themselves the Occupy Wall Street Movement see this as one small step forward if warily. Seers have also predicted these things before the onset of 2011.

I can say as much for the Arab Spring – extending to as far as several nations in Africa – that it has also made many jubilant and triumphant, happy and mollified. The past year’s forecast also included the tumbling of governments one after another and conflicts arising all over the world. Indeed, 2011 has proven to be a regime change year. Luckily for some regimes, change did not happen when the national leadership changed their tack and started dealing with the problems that beset their people.

If the fates and fortunes are to be believed, I imagine that the pre-ordained configuration of the natural order in 2011 may have had a large effect upon the festering problem between management and workers over industry-labor relations. A brief rundown of current labor disputes involve companies such as PowerTech, ABS CBN Broadcasting, GMA Network Inc., Meralco, PLDT, Philippine Air Lines and many such other companies affected by cases now filed at the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) as well as with other higher judicial bodies such as The Honorable, The Court of Appeals and The Honorable, The Supreme Court of the Philippines. (The employees’ union at Philippine Air Lines – PAL – for instance is now waging a battle with its employer right up to the highest court in the land. With it is the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines or FASAP backed by the Partido Manggagawa, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino, Alliance of Philippine Labor and Sanlakas -- among other allied groups.)

Whatever the other, less perceivable reasons for these developments in the globe today, there are positive signs that we take note of:

• Emergence of Conflicts highlighted the need to address hitherto neglected questions and issues.
• People embracing measures, both mellow and drastic, to resolve long due issues.
• Governments bending backwards to sincerely respond to the needs of their people.
• Regime change in certain cases will provide a new playing field where it is hoped the will of the greater number will soon be given more weight and import.

All in all, with all these things taking place, there is an incipient possibility of better harmony and cooperation between and among supposed antagonists in the coming period.
That is certainly very much hoped and prayed for. As the yuletide season approaches each of those involved in these bitter disputes can look toward little pockets of light at the end of their dark, miserable tunnels and possibly find better, more meaningful ways of resolving their wars and troubles.

Master salesmen and specialist negotiators will never tire to tell you during sales or negotiations seminars that: “Out there in the real world, there are more than one thousand deals that await to be closed by you!”

Maybe it is time for us to work towards trying to close, any one peace pact out of thousands of peaceful settlements that are waiting to be sealed each day in this planet.

Elegant Principles

Pockets of light