Environmentalists urge voters to vote for 'green' president

While saying they are not endorsing anyone for the May polls, members of the environmental group Greenpeace on Friday trooped to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Intramuros, Manila to urge the public to vote for the presidential candidate who has the most substantive environmental platform. About 50 environmental activists staged a mock miting de avance in front of the poll body national headquarters, with some of them wearing black masks bearing question marks to drive home the point that none among the many presidential hopefuls has shown genuine conviction to push environmental agenda.

The demonstration, which meant to mimic a Filipino brand of campaign sortie, was made to launch Greenpeace's Green Electorate Initiative (GEI) which aims to give importance to the environment as one of the key issues that must be given priority by the candidates running in the May polls. "Ang panawagan natin yung mga tumitindig para sa darating na halalan ay dapat may posisyon sa mga usaping pang-kalikasan (Our call is for candidates to have a stand on environmental issues), particularly we are calling for clean energy, clean water, and safe food, among other things," Francis dela Cruz, campaigner for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, told reporters in an interview. He noted however, that they would not be endorsing candidates who have been claiming to be advocates of the environment. That way, the public will be more "engaged" in the electoral process, he said. "Hindi namin sasabihin kung sino dapat ang inyong iboto, ang sinasabi namin dapat tanungin ninyo kung sinuman ang inyong napupusuang iboto (We will not tell you who to vote, what we are saying is that you yourselves should ask your bet if he or she is pushing for environmental issues)," he said. One of the presidential candidates who claims to prioritize environmental issues is Nicanor Perlas. But dela Cruz said that although they have worked with Perlas on one occasion, they are still not endorsing him. "We are a non-partisan movement," he said. Rei Panaligan, coordinator for the EcoWaste Coalition, said that GEI will be coming out with a voting guideline to help the public identify candidates who are more informed and willing to act on some environmental issues. He said they will come out with the results before Earth Day is celebrated in April. "Irarank sila ng (They will be ranked by) evaluators from green to gray," he told reporters. Panaligan asked the candidates to cooperate with their project. "Nananwagan kami sa mga kandidato sa pagkapangulo na ibigay talaga ang kanilang mga programa para sa kalikasan at gawing maayos ang plataporma nila dahil titingnan ng publiko kung ano ang magiging posisyon nila (We are calling on all the presidential candidates to give their programs on the environment because the public will be examining their stands on certain issues)," he said. —LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV