NCPAG promotes “green vote”

NCPAG promotes “green vote”
KIM Quilinguing



To promote environmental issues as a run-up to the forthcoming elections, the UP Samahan Tungo sa Progresibong Administrasyon (UP-STPA) and the UP Diliman National College of Public Administration and Governance (UPD NCPAG) organized on February 3, 2010 the forum “Mga Kandidato ng Kalikasan at Kapaligiran: May Boboto Ba?” at the NCPAG Assembly Hall.

The forum was one of the launching activities of the College’s “Green Vote, Green Growth Movement.” Spearheaded by Prof. Ebinezer Florano, the movement aims to scrutinize the environmental agenda of political groups and candidates. The forum guests included presidential candidate Nicanor Perlas, vice presidential candidate Loren Legarda, senatorial candidate Nereus Acosta, and Roy Cabonegro of Partido Kalikasan ng Pilipinas as speakers.

Legarda spoke of the Philippines’ lack of implementation of its environmental laws. She also talked of the difficulty of mustering enough support for environmental legislation, since her colleagues prefer to focus more on employment, poverty, or national security. Legarda even complained that if not for natural disasters, nobody would have paid attention to her environmental bills.

Cabonegro, secretary general of Partido Kalikasan ng Pilipinas, urged government to shift from its neo-liberal policies on the environment toward a policy which would involve local communities and local government. Cabonegro favored a 25-year ban on commercial logging and a moratorium on mining by foreign firms.

For his part, Acosta said that one reason for the lack of implementation of environmental laws is the government’s inability to define protected areas. Acosta also wanted to disprove the notion that environmental protection runs counter to business.

Perlas, however, warned the audience of an environmental crisis. He cited Acosta’s presentation which showed the rise in sea levels in the next 20 to 25 years and the extreme typhoons and droughts. Perlas emphasized the need for re-structuring population centers to better equip them to respond to disasters. He insisted that “green issues” should be viewed as life-or-death questions.

Professor Leonor Briones of NCPAG called for “climate sensitive agendas” and policies that will develop citizens to be environmental conservationists. She also questioned the current practice of relegating the handling of calamity funds to the Office of the President, instead of to units and organizations directly involved in climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction.

Source: http://www.up.edu.ph/upnewsletter.php?issue=63&i=1138

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ON HOW TO CHOOSE GREEN CANDIDATES

By
Rina Jimenez-David

1. Thou shall not vote for candidates using the 4Cs to win: Guns, Goons, Gold, and Garbage. Vote for candidates who stand for the essential Ms in the genuine exercise of the right of suffrage: Malinis, Maayos, Matipid, Mapanindigan, Marangal, Mapayapa, Makatao, Maka-kalikasan, and Maka-Diyos. Support candidates known for their simple, pro-people and ecological lifestyle.

2. Thou shall not support candidates who nail, staple, strap or plaster campaign materials on defenseless trees and other restricted sites. Vote for candidates who plant and love trees, use the least amount of campaign materials and abide by the campaign rules.

3. Thou shall not pick candidates who use smoke-belching vehicles that contribute to worsening air quality. Go for candidates on bicycles rather than those who come in convoy of cars. Vote for those who use fewer vehicles in motorcades to reduce fuel consumption and car emissions.

4. Thou shall not fall for candidates who make beautiful speeches about their love for the people and the environment but fail to match their words with deeds. Does the candidate walk his talk? Check if he/she is engaged in any environmental advocacy or project, or has financial interest in any polluting or environmentally-destructive business. Vote for those who live by what they say.

5. Thou shall not select candidates who profess to protect the environment, but are mute on what they intend to do. Ask the candidates, point-blank, how they intend to serve the interest of the environment. Vote for those who will work earnestly to heal and protect the environment.

6. Thou shall not choose candidates who are hooked to the outmoded “hakot-tambak-sunog” and fail to shut down illegal dumps. Vote for those who segregate their discards at home and in the work place and support ecological, low-cost and community-driven alternatives to dumps, landfills and incinerators.

7. Thou shall not vote for candidates who ignore the health, environmental, socio-economic and human rights concerns against “sanitary” landfills, “waste-to-energy,” dams and similar infrastructure plans. Vote for candidates who assert the people’s sovereign rights to a clean, safe and healthy environment. Go for candidates who will work for sustainable economy that will respond to people’s basic needs and not to the dictates of the World Bank and other international funding institutions.

8. Thou shall not elect candidates who want to build big dams and allow mining, logging and other extractive industries to rape our land and abuse human rights, especially the rights of our indigenous peoples. Vote for those who will take up the cudgels for the human as well as non-human victims, such as trees, plants and wildlife, of environmentally-damaging human activities.

9. Thou shall not back candidates who will not take action against the health and safety threats of genetically modified crops and food products. Vote for candidates who will advance the people’s right to safe and healthy food as well as food production systems that nurture the earth.

10. Thou shall not vote for candidates who refuse to acknowledge global warming. Vote for candidates who see the need for preventive and precautionary actions to stop climate change. For instance, go for candidates who oppose new coal power projects and support community-owned utilities using renewable energy sources.

Source: Magis Deo (2007), "Vote for Green Candidates," available at http://www.magisdeo.org/wcm/content/view/68/1/ (Viewed on 10 January 2010).

PERLAS, JAMBY TOP 'GREEN VOTING'

MANILA, Philippines - If pails lined up in front of Quezon City Hall yesterday morning were to signify anything, it would be the presidential candidates’ ranking on their platforms for clean water.

Three groups conducted a survey to find out how candidates would tackle water pollution in the country.

In the survey conducted by Greenpeace Southeast Asia and the Ecowaste Coalition, environmentalist Nicanor Perlas topped the ranks with 8.7 points, followed by Sen. Jamby Madrigal with 7.8 points, and Sen. Richard Gordon with 7.2.

Eddie Villanueva placed fourth with 4.8 points, on a scoreboard of 1 to 10.
Senators Manuel Villar and Benigno Aquino III got 3.6 points, while councilor JC Delos Reyes got 2.7 points.

Former President Joseph Estrada and former defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro received zero points for not answering questions sent to them.

The two groups said Perlas, Madrigal and Gordon got the highest points for their clear, comprehensive and progressive positions and plans on protecting water resources.

World Water Day

Greenpeace and Ecowaste undertook the activity yesterday morning to mark World Water Day, using pails to show how candidates ranked on “green topics.”
They conducted the Green Electoral Initiative survey among nine candidates, sending the questions until last February.

Candidates were asked questions such as: “If elected president, what specific steps will you take to ensure the availability of clean water sources in the country?” and “Are you for or against amending the Clean Water Act to incorporate and institutionalize a framework of Zero Discharge of hazardous chemicals from factories and domestic sources?”

“We would like to know their insights on their plans for the water issue, particular the problem of water pollution and the lack of clean water,” Manny Calonzo of Ecowaste said.

“This is the first in a series of ‘green’ rankings that we will release to inform the voters how those aspiring to lead our nation intend to tackle the country’s environmental woes such as the declining quality and quantity of our freshwater sources due to the continued generation and discharge of pollutants from household, agricultural and industrial sources,” Calonzo said.

He said many candidates focused on enforcement as key to addressing water pollution.
Perlas said it was urgent to have a comprehensive land use plan to delineate watershed areas.

Madrigal plans to enforce a system for managing water resources beyond setting effluent standards.

On the other hand, Gordon intends to implement the rainwater collection law and the provision of incentives for individuals to integrate rainwater storage into their houses.

LYFE survey
In another survey by the League of the Youth for the Environment (LYFE), Madrigal topped the “greenest candidate” for the May 10 election.

Loi Manalansan, group convenor, said the survey, dubbed “Environment Vote 2010: Who’s the greenest of them all?” aims to help voters choose the most pro-people and pro-environment political leaders.

“People have the right to know their candidates’ stand and track record on critical environmental issues to help the voters choose and put in office the most pro-people and pro-environment leaders,” he said.

Aside from Madrigal, Perlas and Villar ranked high in the list of green presidential candidates while Gordon, Estrada and Teodoro goton the “mean” list.

On the vice presidential bets, Legarda, Mayor Jejomar Binay and Perfecto Yasay topped the green list while Jay Sonza and Bayani Fernando were at the bottom.
A similar ranking for the senatoriables had Satur Ocampo, Liza Maza, Risa Hontiveros and Rizalito David in the green, while Kit Tatad, Ompong Plaza, Ralph Recto and Juan Ponce Enrile were in the mean list.

For those running for party-list, Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, Gabriela, Kabataan, Katribu, Akbayan and Cibac landed positively on the green list.

The questionnaire was sent by e-mail, fax and via social networking sites to the presidentiables, vice presidentiables, senatoriables and party lists groups. Background checks were also done on all candidates with available on-line records for their positions on 10 major national environmental issues.

These questions range from the recommissioning of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, commercial logging, Mining Act of 1995, coal power plants, Visiting Forces Agreement, toxic waste, aerial spraying of pesticides on plantations, among others.
For every environmental friendly answer or record, the candidate or group was given one green bean point.

One mean bean (black) was also awarded for every environmentally destructive answer/record that they gave. The bean counts were added for the final tally to rank the candidates. - Reinir Padua, Artemio Dumlao, Perseus Echeminad.

Source: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=560510&publicationSubCategoryId=68

AUDIO RECORDING OF DR. FLORANO'S LECTURE

Dr. Ebinezer Florano's lecture entitled, "Green Vote, Green Growth: It's Time to Paint Philippine Politics Green" delivered during the U.P. Academic Congress at the Malcolm Theater of the U.P. College of Law on February 5, 2010 can be heard at:

http://dilc.upd.edu.ph/index.php/beyond2010/391-qgreen-vote-green-growth

You can hear the other lectures on the same website.

U.P. ACADEMIC CONGRESS

(PowerPoint presentation copy of Prof. Florano's lecture is available at http://law.upd.edu.ph/new/Academic-Congress-February-1-5,2010/Day-5/Session-14/Prof%20Ebinezer%20%20Florano%20-%20Green%20Vote%20Green%20Growth.pdf)

Dr. Ebinezer R. Florano will speak at the U.P. Academic Congress which will tackle the general theme, “Beyond 2010: Leadership for the Next Generation” on 5 February 2010 at the Malcolm Hall of the U.P. College of Law, Diliman, Quezon City. Prof. Florano will join former U.P. President Jose V. Abueva, former National Treasurer and NCPAG Prof. Leonor M. Briones, and Dr. Edna E. A. Co in a panel that will discuss, “Election and How to Choose a Leader.” UP-NCPAG Dean Alex B. Brillantes, Jr. will moderate the discusions.

Below is the abstract of Prof. Florano’s paper entitled, “Green Vote, Green Growth: It’s Time to Paint Philippine Politics Green.”

Abstract

After conducting a brief appraisal of the state of the environment of the Philippines and the seemingly inability of the government to respond to myriads of environmental problems, the paper argues that there is a need to elect committed and competent “green politicians” to public offices in this coming May 10, 2010 elections because they are the ones who could make things happen - they have the political mandate and public resources at their disposal to formulate and implement environmental laws, policies, programs, and projects in pursuit of “green growth” or environmentally-sustainable development. However, there are uncertainties which need to be answered or clarified. Is there a green vote block in Philippine politics which can influence election outcomes? If there is, who are the green voters? If none, how can they be organized and mobilized? And, how can green voters select the greenest politicians among the lot? To respond to these questions, the paper delves into the ontological and epistemological foundation and evolution of “green politics” and “green vote,” then focuses on their existence (or absence) in Philippine politics. The second half of the paper provides methods and strategies that can be employed by Filipino voters to evaluate and select the greenest politicians.

ABOUT THE "GREEN VOTE, GREEN GROWTH" MOVEMENT

GREEN GROWTH, GREEN VOTE (GVGG) is a civic non-profit movement that aims to support the candidacies of pro-environment national and local politicians this coming May 10, 2010 elections. GVGG's support cuts across political boundaries.*

VISION:

A Philippine political system which encourages voters to elect pro-environment politicians into public offices.

MISSION:

1. To educate the general public on the connection of voting for pro-environment politicians who support environmentally-sustainable development or green growth; and
2. To support the candidacies of pro-environment national and local politicians during election periods.

OBJECTIVES:

This coming May 10, 2010 elections:

1. To hold fora with national and local politicians on the topic: “How Green Is Your Candidate?” in all cities, municipalities, and provinces in the Philippines; and
2. To mobilize voters to elect pro-environment national and local candidates through the use of ICTs and the simple act of wearing/tying green ribbons. .

(*Note: Please write "Green Vote, Green Growth" on your ribbons to distinguish us from political parties with green motif).

GREEN VOTE, GREEN GROWTH (A Movement), Version 2.0

(Click picture to enlarge)