 |
BETS TOLD: BARE 'ECO-PLANS'
January 15, 2004
Former Senator Heherson T. Alvarez today challenged all candidates in the May elections to make public their "environmental platforms."
"Pollution in the Philippines has become a very serious problem and its solution must be part of every candidate's platform," Alvarez, a former secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said.
To illustrate his point, Alvarez revealed that in the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) of 2002, the Philippines was No. 117 on a list of 142 of the most polluted countries in the world.
ESI, a global study on the environment commissioned by the World Economic Forum, Yale University and Columbia University to help governments in decision-making, listed Finland as the least polluted country in the world; the United States was No.51 while the United Arab Emirates ranked last.
At the same time, Alvarez, who has filed his certificate of candidacy as an independent senatorial bet, said he has issued a memorandum to all his supporters nationwide to avoid posting his campaign materials on trees.
This, he said, was in keeping with his project, "Don't Puno: Don't Crucify the Trees!!!," which he launched in Quezon City in April 2001, with youth volunteers and the GOMBURZA led by running priest Fr. Robert Reyes.
In prodding fellow candidates to help heighten the environmental awareness of people, Alvarez noted growing global concern over the worsening state of the environment, which has caused alarming shifts in weather patterns, resulting in calamities and disasters.
"The Ormoc and Leyte tragedies are only two horrible examples of the many devastating effects of the degradation of the environment. I am challenging all candidates, both in the national and local levels, to outline their programs for the environment, which are as important as their social and economic platforms," Alvarez said.
Both tragedies, which claimed the lives of thousands, were blamed on the wanton cutting of trees and climate changes that brought about unusual heavy rainfall and massive floods.
Alvarez's "Don't Puno: Don't Crucify the Trees!!!" program was recently revived by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in connection with the coming elections. The Department is asking candidates and their followers not to nail or staple campaign posters on trees, especially those lining major thoroughfares, highways, boulevards, avenues and streets.
"I am glad the program I set during my stint at the DENR is now being pursued by the Department. All candidates must comply with it. With the help of Fr. Reyes and other concerned citizens, we implemented it during the May polls of 2001. Because even then, we already saw the need for a deeper caring for trees and the environment and the rejection of this vicious ethic during the political season," Alvarez added.
|
|
|
