With the kick-off of the campaign period for national candidates and party-list Luntiang Pilipinas Party-list (Luntian) first nominee Michael Ubac on Tuesday said it is time to elect a green party to Congress to champion the cause of the environment and prevent environmental disasters that necessitated the cleanup and rehabilitation of Boracay Island and Manila Bay.
“It has been 21 years since marginalized sectors were allowed representation in the House of Representatives via the party-list system, and in that time no green party has ever been elected to Congress. That, we believe, has to change given the grave threats posed to our environment,” said the veteran journalist.
Ubac, a graduate of the University of the Philippines and Harvard University, said that while there have been legislators like Sen. Loren Legarda who are passionate advocates for the environment, “we need more legislators in Congress who understand the issues affecting our environment, and who have the capacity to push a coherent, consistent, and comprehensive pro-environment agenda in the context of the Philippine setting.”
Luntian, according to Ubac, has a clear platform founded on its four pillars: regreening (forest parks, backyard gardening, and mangrove growing); solid waste management; coastal and marine resource management; and climate change adaptation.
“We need more legislators in Congress who understand the issues affecting our environment.”
“These are the four major environmental issues we must address. Luntiang Pilipinas is not just about drafting pro-environment laws, but crafting effective pro-environment laws that are properly implemented,” stressed Ubac, whose master’s thesis tackled issues involving climate change and Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”
Ubac lamented that while laws have been passed to protect the environment, the country has a poor record of compliance, as evidenced by the closure of Boracay last year and the ongoing cleanup of Manila Bay.
“These are crises that could have been avoided. The Ecological Solid Waste Management (ESWM) Act was enacted almost two decades ago, and if this law was properly implemented, then Boracay would not need to be closed down, and Manila Bay would be swimmable today,” stressed Ubac.
In 2013, Luntiang Pilipinas founder, Senator Legarda, conducted a Senate briefing on the status of compliance to the Supreme Court’s Writ of Continuing Mandamus issued in 2008 ordering various government agencies to clean up Manila Bay. Since then, she has been urging concerned agencies to fast track the much-needed rehabilitation of Manila Bay, primarily by implementing the country’s environmental laws, such as the ESWM Act.
The ESWM Act was principally authored by Legarda, who also ensured funding for capacity building programs for its implementation when she became Chair of the Senate Committee on Finance. It was under the 2016 national budget when the law was funded for the first time since its enactment in 2001.
“The country’s sustained economic growth and development requires more vigilance on the part of those who want to protect the environment.”
Ubac said the steps taken by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to ensure compliance with this law by local government units (LGUs) was a step in the right direction, and credited the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte for displaying the political will necessary to enforce the law, but added that given the numerous environmental issues facing the country, “the environment needs more champions now, more than ever.”
In his third State of the Nation Address, the President declared that “the protection of the environment must be top priority.”
Duterte called on LGUs to enforce laws and not wait for the national government “to swoop down on your areas just to do your duty and work.”
“What has happened to Boracay is just an indication of the long overdue need to rationalize, in a holistic and sustainable manner, the utilization, management and development of our lands,” said the President.
Ubac, who joins environmental advocates Ciara Sotto, Mons Romulo, and Sonia Mendoza as Luntian’s top four nominees, said the country’s sustained economic growth and development “requires more vigilance on the part of those who want to protect the environment.”
“Our economy is growing and this is an exciting time for those who want to invest in the country. However, we have to remember that as we build, build, build, we do not destroy, destroy, destroy the environment,” Ubac said.
“We want a more prosperous future for the next generation, but this must not come at the cost of the environment––because we want to bequeath a beautiful country to the next generation as well,” he added.
