Children ACT Now - Easter Truth Hunt

NEWS RELEASE

23 March 2008

CHILDREN’S EASTER “TRUTH-HUNT” MARKS BEGINNING OF POST LENTEN ANTI-CORRUPTION PROTESTS

After the Holy Week break, protests against corruption of the Arroyo government starts anew with an Easter Truth-Hunt spearheaded by the network of child rights advocates, Children Act Now! About 100 children together with parents and child rights advocates gathered at the Rizal Park to search for “eggs” where statements and situations that convey truths, untruths and grey areas that would require children to analyze and discern based on their values, were discussed.

“Easter in the Christian tradition celebrates the resurrection of Jesus and symbolizes hope and rebirth. The Easter egg symbolizes the beginning of life. Now is a good time to emphasize to the children that a rebirth of our society can start with finding the truth amidst all the lies that our government wants us to believe,” said Sophia Garduce, Co-Convenor of CHILDREN ACT NOW! Network and Executive Director of Association for the Rights of Children in Southeast Asia (ARCSEA).

Garduce said that this activity marks the start of their network’s renewed campaign to help children be more critical and active in discerning proper moral values that is continually being corrupted by the Arroyo government by its acts. As an example, she cited the sell-out agreement made by the government with China regarding the Spratly’s Islands. “For a few billion dollars of kickback, the Arroyo government is even willing to sell our patrimony. The moral value that this conveys to our children is that money can buy everything and money is more important than your country. Through the corruption of values, perhaps more than the corruption of funds, our children’s future is slowly being stolen from them.”

The child advocates’ network hopes to initiate more activities in the communities, churches and other venues as part of their anti-corruption and truth-telling campaign. They plan to coordinate with other groups having similar objectives in order to reach more children across ages and classes. “Children should not merely be observers but actors as well in this struggle. After all, it is their future that is at stake,” Garduce ended.