MANILA, Philippines?A department of civil society will be formed under a Nicanor Perlas presidency.

That was the promise which the environmentalist candidate for president made Monday during the first-ever Inquirer presidential debate.

?One of the first things that I will create once elected president is a new Cabinet position on civil society affairs. For me this is important because we are going to introduce a new concept of governance that goes beyond just government,? Perlas said.

Under this new concept, he said he would shift the balance of power in politics from the usual executive-legislative-and-judiciary triumvirate to government-business-and-civil society.

?This is important because we can?t have genuine democracy if we don?t empower citizens to participate in shaping the destiny of this nation,? he said.

Known for his opposition to the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, Perlas was grilled about how he would reconcile modernization with the environment and indigenous people.

?I think this conflict is artificial,? he said. ?I know for a fact due to my direct contact with indigenous people that they consider environment and development as one whole.?

?(Development) has to be done in a way that respects their culture, that treats them as human beings,? he said.

He said the existing Mining Act had ?so many loopholes? that had led to environmental disasters. ?I?m not against mining per se because it?s contradictory, for example, to my use of computer, which came from a mine.?

?What I?m in favor of is the transformation of the mining law to make sure we?re not violating the rights of indigenous people, to make sure there?s equitable distribution of the income we derive from mining, to make sure we?re not mining on watersheds, (that we) respect ancestral domains and put in ecological and social safeguards.?

Does he honestly believe he can win?

?Yes, I do,? he said.