In his Earth Day message on April 22, Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu called for an end to impunity in crimes against the environment.
Undersecretary and Chief of Staff Rodolfo C. Garcia, delivering Cimatu’s message during the national celebration of Earth Day at the Harbour Square, Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex in Manila, underscored the need for Filipinos to take action and not to tolerate environmental abuse, filling the gap in the enforcement of laws on environmental protection.
Environmental abuse, Cimatu explained, persists because there are people who allow, if not encourage, “irresponsibility to proceed with impunity.” He cited the Boracay Island as a classic example.
The island paradise in Malay, Aklan, was closed for six months since April 26 to allow the rehabilitation and recovery of its degraded environment.
Exceeding targets
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is at the forefront of the campaign for environmental protection and conservation.
Cimatu boasts of the agency’s accomplishments under his watch last year. This includes surpassing targets in some of the department’s priority programs under President Duterte’s six-year action plan called “Program for Environment and Natural Resources Restoration, Rehabilitation and Development,” or PRRD.
Topping the DENR’s 2017 major accomplishments was in solid-waste management. It assisted 333 local government units (LGUs)—composed of 143 percent of its target of 233 LGUs—on the proper closure and rehabilitation of open and controlled dumps within water-quality management areas and the Manila Bay region.
The DENR chief also reported a 135-percent output in the management and protection of protected areas and in ecotourism development. It noted that the various Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) in the country had approved a total of 997 resolutions, or 261 more than the target of 736.
The government’s flagship National Greening Program (NGP) also exceeded its 2017 target of 200,000 hectares by 5 percent. A total of 200,544 hectares were planted with over 177 million seedlings, expanding to 1,862,773 hectares the total NGP-covered areas as of December 31, 2017, since the program started in 2011.
“The NGP as of end-2017 had also generated 4,438,995 jobs benefiting 628,656 individuals from local communities and people’s organizations,” he said.
Unimpressed
Several environmental groups, however, were neither at all impressed by the DENR chief’s accomplishments nor convinced by its actions on Boracay.
The Philippines remains one of the most highly vulnerable nations to the impacts of climate change. Despite mounting calls for the protection and conservation of its natural wealth, its terrestrial, coastal and marine environment remain under threat by various destructive human activities.
The anti-mining group Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM), sought by the BusinessMirror for reaction, said that while the alliance recognizes the joint efforts of the DENR, Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Department of Tourism to close Boracay for rehabilitation, the same diligence and commitment were lacking in addressing the mining issues in the country.
In an interview via e-mail on April 23, Jaybee Garganera, ATM national coordinator, said Cimatu has failed to implement the closure and suspension orders against 26 mining operations that have violated environmental laws or have failed to comply with their own obligations set in their respective mining contracts.
“This comes in the backdrop of delayed internal audits of the DENR and the review of the Mining Industry Coordinating Council [MICC] to resolve both the technicalities and substance of these closure orders issued by then-Environment Secretary Regina [Paz] L. Lopez,” he said.
“Cleaning Boracay and regulating the use of plastics are noble initiatives to protect Mother Earth. However, when national government fails to implement its own orders that intend to protect watersheds, protected areas and small islands from destructive mining, the worst kind of hypocrisy is at play,” Garganera added.
Destruction, inactions
The group cited cases in mining-affected areas, such as in Santa Cruz, Zambales, wherein the demands for compensation of lost livelihoods and rehabilitation of farms and fisheries areas damaged by nickel mining operations remain in limbo.
In Brooke’s Point, Palawan, Ipilan Nickel Corp. has not been held accountable for illegally cutting of more than 14,000 trees in May 2017, it added.
Hundreds of trees—including those century old—were felled by the mining companies.
It took Ipilan Mayor Jean Feliciano to demolish illegal structures, such as fences and bunkhouses in the mine area, to stop the illegal activities of the company,
In Aroroy, Masbate, at least 30 families have been forcibly evicted from their homes and farms by Filminera Mining Corp.
Filminera is in a “suspiciously unique position” when after undergoing the Mine Audit in 2016, its status was “not passed nor failed,” despite the numerous findings against it. A special follow-up investigation for its operation was conducted, but the results were never released by the DENR, Garganera said.
In Cantilan, Surigao del Sur, farmers, environmental groups and the Catholic Church lamented that the Mineral Production Sharing Agreement of Marcventures Minerals Development Corp. was allegedly extended for another nine years or until 2027.
Marcventure’s mining contract was set to expire this year without the benefit of consultation with local communities who opposed mining.
The indigenous peoples have also complained at the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples that their free, prior and informed consent was not secured by the company for the renewal of the mining contract, Garganera said.
“President Duterte reiterated his disgust with large-scale mining operations who fail to rehabilitate or reforest the mined-out areas. Secretary Cimatu should heed the President’s warning to mining companies and follow the Chief Executive’s clear instructions,” he added.
Land reclamation, overfishing
The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas, for its part, said oceans, seas, lakes, rivers and other bodies of water are “under the threat of environmental destruction due to destructive corporate projects that were given green light by past and present administrations.”
“Aquatic and marine [resources] suffer extinction caused by the destruction of corals, mangroves and other fish-spawning areas,” Pamalakaya National Chairman Fernando Hicap said in a telephone interview on April 23.
One of the most notorious coastal-based corporate activities, Hicap said, is land reclamation, a process of conversion and creating new land from the ocean or any offshore areas through landfill and dredging.
Hicap added that massive reclamation projects in Manila Bay have already destroyed thousands of hectares of its mangroves. From decades ago until 1995, mangrove areas in Manila Bay used to cover 54,000 hectares but they have significantly shrunk to 2,000 hectares and at present only less-than-a-500-hectare is left.
Institutionalized destruction
He said reclamation projects have been “institutionalized” with the crafting of National Reclamation Plan (NRP) on February 24, 2011, under then-President Benigno S. Aquino III, and approved by the Philippine Reclamation Authority as per Board Resolution 4161.
“NRP back then had a total of 102 reclamation projects covering 38, 000 hectares of foreshore areas across the country were identified, with 26, 234 hectares, or about 70 percent located in Manila Bay,” he noted.
The NRP has been continued and even expanded by the current Duterte administration. It now totalled 106 projects covering a total of 41,967.56 throughout the archipelago, with 42 projects covering 29,929.56 hectares in Manila Bay alone.
The PRA is set to implement at least 80 projects within the term of Duterte, including the 148-hectare Manila Solar City and the 650-hectare Navotas Boulevard Business Park, Hicap said.
Artisanal fishermen, according to Hicap, are the casualties of these so-called development projects.
“Land reclamation, commercial-fishing intrusion, large-scale mining, among other projects of development aggressions, are to blame for the deteriorating condition of marine ecosystems and the current status of average daily fish catch, which now dramatically drops to 2 kilograms [kg] to 5 kg a day from 10 kg to 15 kg a day during the era of abundance,” he explained.
‘Marked with loss’
Vince Cinches, ocean campaigner of Greenpeace Southeast Asia-Philippines, said the current state of the environment in the Philippines is marked with a lot of loss: of marine, coastal and mountain resources, including endemic flora and fauna found in both terrestrial and marine ecosystems.
In an interview via Messenger on April 24, Cinches shared the same assessment when various environmental and conservation groups issued the People’s Declaration of the Philippine Seas in Crisis as early as November 16, 2012, in Quezon City.
He said the bigger loss that needed to be talked about are the lives of environmental defenders targeted by illegal fishers, mining operators and other actors emboldened by the weak implementation of basic laws in the Philippines.
“It is disheartening that the country is continually losing the very system that feeds, and provided income, shelter and important scientific resources crucial not just for Filipinos but the global community, as well,” he said.
Cinches pointed out that it is important to talk about the people dependent on the country’s natural resources, and the existing policies that enabled the destruction, and dislocation of communities on a national scale.
This should happen in all communities at the forefront, where the power of the corporations are unregulated, and holds local government units by their neck, he said.
“The proposal of Greenpeace called road map to recovery for our oceans in 2013, using the ocean lens in protecting our resources, is still very valid and needs to be implemented with urgency,” he said.
Cinches added: “As an archipelagic nation, we need to reverse the continued decline of our seas. Our country’s food security and economic development depend on improving the health of our oceans. If we are to continue enjoying the bounty of our marine resources, we need to rethink our approach to managing our seas. We urge the Philippine government to acknowledge that our seas are experiencing an unprecedented crisis—and that there is a need to create an appropriate road map to reverse the ongoing damage, as well as to end overfishing.”
Living dangerously
Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment said under the Duterte administration, environmentalists are living dangerously for fighting against environmental destruction.
“The Duterte [administration] so far is the most dangerous regime for Filipino environmentalists,” said Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of Kalikasan-PNE, said in a telephone interview on April 23.
He said large-scale mining projects and operations are the primary areas where killings of environmental defenders occurred
Militarization and human-rights violations are part and parcel of the government’s actions to impose its economic policies and programs, which relates to resource extractions like mining, energy and industrial plantation, Bautista said.
The primary suspects in the killings of environmental defenders are state military and paramilitary forces, he lamented.
According to Bautista, more than 60 percent of the killings of environmental defenders occurred in Mindanao, which until now remains under a state of martial-law months after the Marawi seige.
Anthropocene age
The Philippines, one of the most biodiverse countries in the world but also one of the so-called biodiversity hot spots because of the rapid rate of biodiversity loss, is not uniquely experiencing massive resource depletion.
“Welcome to the Anthropocene!” said environmentalist and Best Alternatives founder Gregg Yan in a statement sent via Messenger on April 23.
“It is the age wherein humans have the rather dubious honor of dictating which species will survive the next centuries,” Yan said.
Experts say the Antropocene, a new geological epoch, should be declared because of humanity’s impact on the earth. They said it is defined by the radioactive elements dispersed across the planet by nuclear bomb tests, plastic pollution, soot from power stations, concrete and other pollutants.
The current epoch, the Holocene, is the 12,000 years of stable climate since the last ice age during which all human civilization developed.
Yan said the world has changed too rapidly since the Industrial Revolution 200 years ago, with the human population exploding because of intensive farming and the use of fossil fuels like natural gas, coal and petroleum.
“There are more people living on Earth now—about 7.6 billion—than at any point in the planet’s history. There are more doctors, lawyers, soldiers, businessmen, mimes, acrobats and what-have-you than ever. From a resource management perspective, this means that every day, 7.6 billion people need to be fed, watered, washed, clothed, housed and entertained. How are we going to balance seemingly infinite growth and consumption with the planet’s finite resources? This is the challenge,” he explained.
Sustainable alternatives
Yan said one of the solutions is for people to start shifting to sustainable alternatives like renewable energy and low-carbon meals.
“Power from the sun, wind and the water flow of rivers is free and practically inexhaustible—at least from a human standpoint. Installing solar panels or micro-wind turbines in your house can lower your carbon emissions and kuryente [electric] bills. Planting fruit trees around your homes not only encourages the absorption of carbon dioxide, you’ll get free meals too. Eating fruits and vegetables is far better than eating high-carbon food like beef—and is healthier.”
“One of my mentors taught me that we need to button-down for a future soon to be defined by climate change. By adopting best alternatives, we can ensure that the Anthropocene doesn’t look like a post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie. We want to retain and improve the quality of life we enjoy now—to have bright days for ourselves and our children,” Yan said.
Image credits: Gregg Yan