Environmentalists caution on ‘token appointments’

REACTING to presumptive President-elect Rodrigo Duterte’s pronouncement offering the environment portfolio to the communists, environmental advocates said Duterte must go beyond “token appointments.”

“While the offer is apparently being made in pursuit of peace, the President-elect must ensure that people with proven experience and of high caliber and integrity are appointed to these critical posts,” said former Greenpeace campaigner Von Hernandez.

“It would be tragic if environmental protection or social welfare were bartered for political accommodation without due regard for competence, proficiency or expertise,” he added.

“We expect President Duterte to appoint a person of integrity and probity who will serve as the country’s No. 1 champion for zero waste, chemical safety and environmental protection regardless of his ideological or party affiliation,” said EcoWaste Coalition president Sonia Mendoza.

Sanlakas secretary general Aaron Pedrosa said the offer appeared to be “an attempt to show that Duterte is willing to work with anyone.”

He stressed that “mere cosmetic approaches such as token appointments in government” will be superficial unless policies improve the lot of the people.

Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of the militant Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, said: “We are more than willing to help the Duterte administration in running these agencies…  particularly in ensuring the protection and rehabilitation of our environment and wise utilization of our natural resources.”

“But if Duterte wants our  help to implement the same old pro-corporate and pro-foreign policies of the previous administrations like the Philippine Mining Act, Epira and Forestry Code, then no, thank you. We will continue our fight in the streets,” he said.

Bautista said he had personally witnessed Duterte support environmental activists in their cause against large-scale mining, toxic aerial spraying and land-grabbing of ancestral lands.

However, he said Duterte has also supported the Aboitiz-owned coal-fired power plant project in Davao City and favored establishing of vast tracts of agri-industrial plantations.

“There is already much anxiety and doubt among environmentalists upon learning who are closest in Duterte’s circle of power,” he said, naming Tom Alcantara, Paul Dominguez and Carlos Dominguez.