Event : INC Symposium for the National Family Week
Date : September 25, 2001
Venue : College of Evangelical Mission Auditorium, New Era University




I am honored to join you today at this symposium organized by the Iglesia ni Cristo that tackles various issues and problems affecting our country and the appropriate responses to resolve these concerns in line with the teachings and beliefs of our Christian faith.
 
Through the fine example of leadership and service by your followers who have contributed their share to public service, the Iglesia ni Cristo will continue to play a pivotal role in the political and spiritual development of the nation alongside the various faiths in our country.
 
The lecture I am tasked to deliver today focuses on my lifetime advocacy to promote and protect one of our most cherished resources – the environment. If we were to outline the ecological problems now facing our country, we can name the following as the most urgent, especially for those who inhabit our cities. These are deforestation, air pollution, urban waste and garbage, marine pollution, and the toxic contamination of our waters by former US military bases.
 
In a recent address in Turin, Italy, where I was privileged to receive an award from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) with my election to the UNEP’s Global 500 Roll of Honor, I outlined these issues and provided the solutions that we have submitted through different Senate resolutions. I believe that reiterating them here today would be beneficial to those who would want to know where we stand on these issues that continue to threaten the environment.
 
Deforestation has resulted in the loss of precious forest cover. On the average, our rate of deforestation is roughly 200,000 hectares every year while the rate of reforestation is only around 9,000 hectares. In effect, for every tree planted, 21 are cut down.
 
We have had to pay a high price for decades of indiscretion and greed. In the decade just passed, rampaging floods killed hundreds and rendered homeless even more people in the southern province of Ormoc due to deforestation.
 
In the mountaintop subdivision in Cherry Hills in Antipolo, television images of lifeless bodies of the young and the innocent being pulled out of the heap of fallen houses still reverberate in our hearts and minds. The tragedy was triggered by the indiscriminate deforestation in the vicinity of Cherry Hills.
 
Some 6.5 million tribal Filipinos have lost rich hunting and inland fishing grounds. Species of flora and fauna have been lost forever. Biological diversity has been diminished, in no small measure.
 
In response, we have attacked the problem of deforestation using two strategies. The first anchored its initiative on an ambitious plan to ban commercial logging for 30 years; while the second was the launch of a nationwide urban tree growing program called Luntiang Pilipinas. The aim of this project is to establish forest parks in every city or town plaza. Luntiang Pilipinas is the product of collaborative work of government agencies, non-governmental organizations, civic groups and the private sector with the Luntian secretariat providing the direction and framework of its thrusts.
 
The second issue confronting our ecological future concerns smog and pollution.
 
We are well aware of the high level of pollution in our cities, emanating from the chimneys of factories and the motor vehicles that ply our streets. What are the consequences of pollution? This is not merely the inconvenience that smog creates but the real danger is the direct link between pollution and the rising levels of respiratory and lung ailments in our population, fatigue and poor concentration among adults, and nervous disorder among children.
 
In my first months as Senator, we worked for the passage of the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1998 that imposes, among others, more stringent vehicle emission standards, and provides incentives for pollution abatement and prevention.
 
One of the more recent problems that have overwhelmed us in recent months is the issue of waste and garbage. More than 6,000 tons of garbage is generated every day in Metro Manila alone. The absence of sanitary landfills had compounded the rising garbage problem in the metropolis. Our streets have turned into dumps, with uncollected waste sitting on our sidewalks breeding diseases exacerbating the flooding of streets during the rainy season.
 
Of the 6,000 tons generated daily, 24 percent is illegally dumped and indiscriminately thrown into our lives and waterways.
 
The problem of garbage propelled us to push for the immediate passage of a Solid Waste Management Act. The measure was not given priority attention then, and it took the Payatas tragedy for officials to facilitate the passage of the Act which is now known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2001. The measure was the first to be signed into law by President Arroyo and provides technology, research, organization and facilities to alleviate the waste problem and reduce health hazards.
 
The last, but certainly not the least of our concerns is the issue involving the toxic contamination in the former United States bases in Clark and Subic.
 
I have made it a personal crusade to move the United States to action. It is aware of this tragedy but refuses to acknowledge responsibility possibly due to the enormous costs it would entail to clean up the bases of toxic wastes.
 
What have these toxic wastes done? Ladies and Gentlemen, they continue to produce ailments, diseases and deaths for those living in the vicinity of the bases. A variety of hazardous substances have been in water and soil samples.
 
No less that the Canadian International Institute of Concern for Public Health three years ago reported conspicuously high levels of kidney, urinary and nervous and female reproductive system and skin disorders in at least six communities in Clark and Subic.
 
In 1998 alone, of 144 persons suffering from exposure to toxic elements, 76 have experienced a painful death, including children who died of rare case of cancer and leukemia.
 
The United States has claimed that it has a standing agreement with our government that releases it from any legal obligations upon its departure from the bases, but this position is a highly questionable one, because it never informed us of the widespread extent and gravity of the contamination in Clark and Subic.
 
Moreover, it was aware that the Philippine government did not have the facilities and resources to detect the wastes left by their military forces.
 
We consider this grave injustice by America- who once considered us as its closest ally in Asia. We cry out for fairness and equality, we demand justice for our people.
 
America today stands in the midst of its greatest tragedy - a terrorist attack on its symbols of power resulting in the loss of thousands of lives.
 
It has mobilized support from it allies and friends to counter terrorism and we have pledged our cooperation. Just recently the National Security Council has authorized the President to grant the United States access to both Clark and Subic in their battle against terrorism.
 
We are one with the President in this decision and we are one with America in the struggle to counter terrorism all over the world.
 
But as America visits Clark and Subic, it is my hope that it will be haunted by the ghosts that they have left behind. My prayer is that in the course of their stay, they will no longer add to the toxic waste that continues to spawn illness and death among our countrymen.
 
We have a long road ahead of us in resolving all the problems of the environment. But fora like these, broaden the understanding and appreciation of the issue, and in the process strengthens the resolve of those who see the environment as the key to our future.
 
Let us all join hands in bringing about a better future for our children through an environment that has been enhanced by our commitment to its preservation and protection in the name of humanity.
 
Mabuhay at maraming salamat!