EDITORIAL
Deceit and D DUTERTE’S MOUTH REEKED like Manila Bay in his remark inviting foreigners to see girls sunbathing in Boracay. He made this utterance on his 4th State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July, as he boasted about the restoration of the island to its original condition. Ironically, while Duterte was professing to have addressed environmental issues, a sea of protesters outside the House of Representatives, including environmentalists and environmental defenders, was criticizing Duterte’s environmental programs as ingenuine and anti-people. Indeed, the voice of the people do not speak lies as what the President does in his every SONA. While he claimed environment to be his top priority, his actions have shown otherwise. His socalled clean-up drives and rehabilitation projects are nothing but deceit to mask all his culpability for the destruction of the country’s environment, and the rights infringed by his actions that led to such serious issues.
OPINION
Unbeknownst to many is the true scenario in Manila Bay and Boracay that would make one question the authenticity of the rehabilitation. Zooming in first to Boracay, its six-month closure which dislocated thousands of workers did not stop business outfits with the establishment of giant casinos and hotels. Similarly in Manila Bay, despite the ongoing rehabilitation, massive reclamation projects which threaten mangroves, sea grasses and animals remain approved. Fishermen
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in Bulacan who make their living from the bay also face possible demolition and relocation due to proposals of reclamation. Arguably, if the government is true to its goal, it would ensure that there is no such conflicts and that there is rigorous assessment done before the implementation. But what only became clear here is Duterte’s real intent that is to profiteer from the island and the bay, and not really to restore them. The bogus rehabilitation schemes of Manila Bay and Boracay are only two of the crimes Duterte has done to the environment and the people. Another glaring evidence of environmental destruction under his administration is the construction of mega-dams that poses severe havoc to our forests. Most pressing is the expedition of the Kaliwa Dam project that would cause irreversible damage to the biodiversity of Sierra Madre on which it will be situated. Moreover, its location is within the ancestral domain of the tribes of Dumagat-Remontados, thus displacing them and forcing them to evacuate. The government justified the need for the new dam to solve the water crisis despite available alternatives, but brushed off the imminent and long-term impact it would create on the ecosystem, and more importantly, the rights of the indigenous people to their land, territory and resources. Duterte also failed to address the issue of large-scale mining corporations that heavily contribute to the pollution of water
SCIENTIA VOL 26 NO 1
