Aquino chided on lackluster environmental program
MANILA, Philippines—Two years into his presidency, President Aquino’s track record on environmental issues remains dismal and unimpressive, according to environment groups.
Greenpeace, in a statement to mark Earth Day on Sunday, said Aquino’s term so far featured broken promises and lackadaisical enforcement of environmental laws. In a separate statement, Kalikasan—People’s Network for the Environment—said the Aquino administration should step up in efforts to stop various forms of environmental degradation.
“So far, the government’s environmental performance under President Aquino remains unimpressive. While we laud the President’s efforts to seriously curb corruption in public service, which itself has a positive impact on environmental governance, such gains are being eroded by the lax enforcement of existing policies such as the Clean air Act and the Renewable Energy law,” said Von Hernandez, Executive Director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia.
Greenpeace also pointed out that the President, who promised to push renewable energy during his term, has been slow in fulfilling his campaign platform. Greenpeace lamented that Aquino’s Department of Energy has delayed the full implementation of the Renewable Energy Act by allowing discussions on the feed-in-tariff (FIT) rates for renewable energy to drag on, while permits were being given to investors in coal-fired power plants.
“Moreover, instead of pushing for the massive uptake of renewable energy as he promised, he is exacerbating the country’s dependence on expensive and polluting fossil fuels. His administration’s aggressive pro-coal agenda for Mindanao at the expense of clean, renewable alternatives is the biggest disappointment,” Hernandez said.
“President Aquino still has four years in office. What does he want to leave behind as his legacy? We challenge his government to move away from the dirty development path and move towards a green development pathway where the health, livelihoods and well-being of the people are not sacrificed for myopic economic interests,” Hernandez said.
Kalikasan, for its part, urged Aquino to prioritize the environment over business with foreign corporations. The group, which is opposing the government’s stance to give foreign corporations full ownership of mining operations, said the government should overturn its policies allowing foreigners and corporations to “exploit our natural wealth at the expense of our people and environment.”
The group noted that deforestation and forest degradation have endangered 221 species of fauna and 526 species of flora in the Philippines, the fourth-highest number of threatened species as of 2008 in Asia-Pacific. It also ranked fourth in the World’s Ten Most Threatened Forest Hotspots.
“Scorching summers, super-typhoons, devastating flash floods and landslides are all consequences of the worsening state of the Philippine environment and the effects of climate change. Despite having rich natural resources, we also have one of the world’s highest rates of deforestation and biodiversity loss,” said Frances Quimpo, secretary general of Kalikasan Partylist.
