Green Electoral Initiative 2013

Green Electoral Initiative (GEI) 2013

BERDE KA BA? QUESTIONNAIRE FOR SENATORIAL CANDIDATES TEN-POINT LEGISLATIVE AGENDA A. CHEMICAL POLLUTION AND CONSUMER SAFETY 1. Toxic substances in food, children’s toys, garments, cosmetics and other everyday consumer products is putting more and more Filipinos at risk from disease. What specific legislation would you author that would result in the elimination of toxics in these products and product systems and institutionalize Zero Discharge and Clean Production?

2. A Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) is a system that requires industries to publicly disclose individual chemicals that are used in their facilities, emissions and transfer.

The experience in other countries with such a system in place demonstrates that pollution disclosure facilitates pollution reduction. How would you encourage industries to comply with a PRTR system?

B. SOLID WASTE 3. Solid waste continues to be one of the biggest environmental issues in the Philippines despite the passage of RA 9003 (The Ecological Solid Waste Management Law) in 2001 because of the lack of budget for implementation and conflicting provisions with other laws (e.g. Waste-to-energy provisions in the Renewable Energy law). What legislative or oversight remedies would you introduce to ensure that RA 9003 is implemented fully?

4. More than 30 local government units have started banning or regulating plastic bags as secondary packaging in their own cities and municipalities. Would you legislate a national ban on plastic bags? What innovative provisions would you include to curb plastic bag pollution?

5. The Basel Convention, ratified by the Philippine senate in 1993, was aimed at stopping toxic waste imports from developed countries. However, this did not stop toxic dumping. The Convention had a loophole which allowed toxic wastes to enter the country as second hand or recyclable products. The Basel Ban Amendment was intended to close that loophole.

What steps would you take to speed up the ratification of the Basel Ban Amendment?

Please give a timeline.

C. SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE AND GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS 6. How would you ensure that government resources support ecological farming instead of unsustainable agricultural practices such as chemical farming and use of genetically modified crops? a. Would you legislate the establishment of national targets that would progressively reduce the use of chemicals in agriculture? b. Would you agree to an outright ban on field trials of GMOs? c. Would you support mandatory labelling of GE ingredients in food?

D. CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION 7. The People's Survival Fund or Republic Act 10174 is a law that amended the Climate Change Act of 2009 by establishing the country's first legislated climate change funding mechanism.

The fund is dedicated to supporting climate change adaptation and resilience-building programs of local governments and communities. Enacted in August 2012, the law stipulates the allocation and maintenance of no less than P1 billion for the Fund annually, appropriated through the General Appropriations Act. If you win a seat in the Senate, will you ensure funding for the People's Survival Fund? How do you intend to accomplish this?

E. ENERGY 8. What measures will you take to ensure a clean and sustainable supply of energy for the country? a. Will you agree to phase-out dirty energy such as coal, and waste-to-energy combustion technology that should in fact be banned pursuant to Sec.20 of The Clean Air Act? b. Are you in favour of increasing the uptake of renewable energy by 50% within the decade? c. Are you for or against the establishment of big hydro-electric dams and projects in the country? Why? d. Are you for or against the re-commissioning of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant?

Why? F. OCEANS 9. The Fisheries Code of the Philippines (RA 8550) is touted as comprehensive and addresses many issues related to fisheries including the health of our vast marine resources. However we continue to see overfishing, illegal fishing as well as destruction and degradation of our marine ecosystems. Would you commit to initiating a legislative review of RA 8550? What specific provisions will you focus on and why?

G. MINING

10. Will you support the passage of a new minerals management law that will ensure equitable sharing of benefits and promote the rights and welfare of the government, the indigenous peoples and the communities?

YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL TRACK RECORD A. Please briefly describe your earlier and ongoing initiatives or projects in the environmental field, including sponsorship and voting history in Congress (if applicable) with respect to environmental legislation, environmental programs implemented, etc. Please include your political party’s platform on the Environment. (If applicable).

B. Have you or any of your immediate family members been involved in or benefitted from any environmentally destructive projects (e.g. logging, mining, polluting projects, etc.) in the past?

Do you have any involvement with such projects NOW, and if so what is the nature of your involvement (e.g. lawyer, shareholder, investor, etc.)?

Please share with us other relevant information which you think is relevant to the purpose of this questionnaire.