Envi, agri groups find Duterte’s Sona wanting

PRESIDENT Duterte’s first State of the Nation Address (Sona) was a combination of hits and some misses, if reactions from some civil society groups are anything to go by.

In a statement, green group EcoWaste Coalition lauded Duterte’s “clear stance” against illegal logging, mining and other destructive practices, but “we cannot help but ask him to seriously rethink his endorsement of waste-to-energy technologies to deal with the country’s  trash problem.”

“We hope to dialogue with him and [Environment Secretary Gina Lopez] to discuss sustainable,  cost-effective and job-creating options for managing our discards without incinerating them and discharging toxic pollutants, including hazardous ash, in the process,” said Aileen Lucero, coordinator of EcoWaste coalition.

Meanwhile, leftist farmers’ group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), which incumbent Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael “Ka Paeng” Mariano used to chair, noted “the absence of any presidential directive on land reform.”

The KMP sees the lack of mention on the issue as “a call on farmers to mainly rely on the peasant mass movement and struggle, including the peace negotiations [with the National Democratic Front],  in their assertion of their right to the lands,” said KMP chair Joseph Canlas in a statement.

The KMP welcomed Duterte’s declaration of a unilateral ceasefire with the communist armed wing New People’s Army.

But for the KMP, “it should translate to the demilitarization of rural communities and countryside. We demand the AFP to immediately pull out its troops, abandon our community schools and barangay halls, and dismantle military detachments from our farmlands,” Canlas said.