AHEAD of today’s presidential inauguration, civil society leaders made a pitch for priority action points to ensure a healthy environment and democracy under a new administration. Through a “green wish list,” environmental health and justice organizations identified what they want Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to prioritize.
With the Philippines being among the most vulnerable to climate impacts, they would like Marcos to put climate action and climate justice as his top priority. Concretely, this means he must prioritize dropping all nuclear plans, stopping the further expansion of fossil fuels, including fossil gas, and holding carbon major companies accountable for pollution and human rights abuses from their business operations, according to Greenpeace Philippines.
To address mounting problems with garbage and pollution, the Marcos government should commit itself to sustainable and socially just waste policy and programs, and suspend, if not reverse, shift to waste-to-energy incineration and other false, quick-fix solutions, the EcoWaste Coalition insisted.
Concretely, the President can issue an Executive Order to hasten the phase-out of non-environmentally acceptable products and packaging, with single-use plastics as an immediate priority, and fast track government ratification of the Basel Convention Ban Amendment (an international law banning hazardous waste exports from developed to developing countries) and stop waste importation.
It is hoped that the President can realize the blatant violations of Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act since its promulgation. With this realization, he should command the law’s faithful implementation.
Both Greenpeace and EcoWaste Coalition emphasized the importance of promoting and protecting the rights of the people and civil society organizations, as guaranteed in the Constitution, in the pursuit of green governance and sustainability.
The key to a healthy environment is a healthy democracy. To promote this, Marcos Jr. must support people’s participation in governance, strengthen democratic institutions, and advance and protect justice and human rights. He will only be able to do this successfully if he uses this opportunity, now that he has been elected as president, to acknowledge and remediate the transgressions committed by his family during his father’s dictatorship.
The government should stop red-tagging environmental defenders and ensure an open, democratic and safe space for the people and civil society groups to participate in the mammoth task of protecting public health and preserving the environment.
