A national social development network is calling on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to declare a climate emergency amid the severity of the crisis and on Congress to pass the Rights of Nature bill.
The about 250 Philippine Misereor Partnership Inc. (PMPI) members from around the country issued the call at their 7th General Assembly press conference at Acacia Hotel in Bacolod City on Thursday, March 7.
Yolanda Esguerra, PMPI national coordinator, who read the statement of the group composed of representatives from church/religious institutions, NGOs, and people’s organizations, said as the planet faces unprecedented challenges due to climate change they are calling on the president to recognize the severity of the crisis by declaring a climate emergency.
“We demand nature-based solutions to the current crisis of climate change. Protecting ecosystems will be our primordial concern. We will shun a fossil-fuel-driven world. We will stop attempts to bring back nuclear energy in the country. We will support efforts that reject projects that destroy the environment and negatively impact people,” she said.
They will also continue to promote sustainable agriculture and fishing methods to ensure food security and food sovereignty, Esguerra said.
“We will build and protect our forest by promoting local species of flora and fauna to flourish,” she said.
PMPI is also calling for the passage of the Rights of Nature bill in Congress and will push for local ordinances protecting local and regional ecosystems, she added.
There is a need for a paradigm shift in economic and political governance that recognizes the rights of nature, Esguerra said.
PMPI will also continue to oppose the current attempts to change the 1987 Constitution, she said.
“Recent attempts by Congress to amend the Constitution’s economic provisions to allow full ownership of public utilities and utilization of natural resources by foreigners increased the risk of foreign mining companies taking advantage of lifted economic restrictions, which might result in further endangering our natural resources,” the PMPI statement said.
PMP| stands against any changes compromising the environment and will actively engage in dialog to ensure environmental safeguards, it said.
The group also called on the president to scrap the relentless pursuit of continuing ex-president Rodrigo Duterte’s Build, Build, Build program.
The unbridled construction of dams, bridges, tollways, and other similar infrastructure projects and increasing approval of mining operations threaten our ecosystems, biodiversity, and indigenous communities, PMPI said.
“We believe cooperation and common actions are key to addressing this worldwide threat of extinction due to climate change. Together, we can create a just and habitable world for all creation,” the group said.
Esguerra was joined at the press conference by San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, Bishop Broderick Pabillo – Vicar Apostolic of Taytay in Palawan, Dave Claustro of Kakampi Youth Alliance Inc. and Coleen Awit of Negrosanon Young Leaders Institute Inc.
Alminaza stressed the importance of the push for renewable energy and called for integral peace, noting that Negros Island is beset by killings and a long standing insurgency problem.
The more lasting solution to the peace problem is social justice, Alminaza said.
He stressed the need to promote peace and protect human dignity and human rights.*