PRESIDENTIAL candidates have provided insights on how they would handle water, food and energy issues if any of them become the country’s president in June this year.
At the second presidential debates organized by Comelec on Sunday night, the candidates offered different solutions and saw the issues in diverging perspectives, but all agreed these three sectors face huge problems
“Our problem with water is huge now as it is; it will grow even more,” said Vice President Leni Robredo in Filipino. She hoped to address the problem through water resources management by way of priority infrastructure projects.
Her plans include identifying new possible sources of water, although she admitted that there have been studies, one of which is to tap rivers as sources, the funding for which she would make a priority if she becomes president.
Manila Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso said he will invest in water projects, the use and protection of watersheds and access to clean and potable water, as he noted that millions of Filipinos have yet to be connected to clean water in their homes.
Moreno said having only a fraction of the population with access to clean and drinking water in the northern and southern portions of the country accounts for why many Filipinos are falling ill to water-borne diseases.
“We’ll make this watershed protected. If we can rebuild and make it better for efficient use … you have water for irrigation and you have water for energy source, then I will invest in that,” he said.
Senator Panfilo Lacson and former Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales want to further invest in research and development and undertake careful planning, respectively.
On the use and promotion of renewable energy as a step to mitigating the negative impacts of climate change, Robredo said she will “fix” and have a road map in achieving targeted energy “milestones.”
“It’s clear to us that we are going in the direction of being carbon- neutral, so we must prepare for how to transition from being fossil fuel-dependent for source of electricity to becoming carbon-neutral,” she said, partly in Filipino.
The vice president noted that although the country targeted to be carbon-free in its energy use by 2050, its direction toward the 2050 goal was not clear.
There should be milestones of “after five years, after 10 years – what should be our energy mix? When we look at our situation now, many years ago we should have had 34 percent renewables in our energy mix, but now it’s lower, it’s just 20 percent,” Robredo said.
Noting that the country was among the states being severely affected by climate change, labor leader Leody de Guzman called on the government to allot funding to renewable energy as Filipinos should contribute more in mitigating climate change.
De Guzman said the country should reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, especially coal, which is the dirtiest, and accelerate its shift to the use of renewable energy.
On the other hand, former Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said he would develop agriculture industry in such a way that the use and development of renewable energy would be incorporated.
On the issue of food sustainability, Senator Manny Pacquiao said the government should give focus to local production and reduce over-reliance on importation, which is killing the livelihood of farmers and fishermen.
Lawyer-physician Jose Montemayor agreed with Pacquiao and called for the scuttling of the rice tariffication law. He took to task previous administrations for neglecting the agriculture sector.
Businessman Faisal Mangondato also aired similar concerns.
Image credits: VP Leni Media