AN URGENT APPEAL FOR THE PHILIPPINE ENVIRONMENT

submitted by Ferdi Bolislis

(ferdibee@philonline.com.ph)

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Three months ago, the House of Representatives approved the Revised Philippine Environmental Code. It is the best, most implementable and comprehensive environmental law we can hope for in this day and age. It sets standards to cut down air pollution, to keep our waters clean and plentiful, and to make sure that every golf course, highway, building, oil exploration site, and similar development projects will not seriously upset the environment. It also raises the penalties for polluters and environmental violators.

But our legislative process dictates that the Code be approved likewise by the Senate before it can be signed into law by President Fidel Ramos. And that's where the problem lies.

Senator Orlando Mercado, chairman of the Senate environment committee, said he prefers the piece-meal passage of the Clean Air Act over the Revised Environmental Code. According to his office, the Senate leadership will not act on the Code because, for reasons known to them, the current leadership of the Upper House is "allergic" to any code.

A Clean Air Act amounts to only a fraction of the coverage of the Revised Environmental Code.

There is little time left for the Code to become law, much less to deliberate on a Clean Air Act. As the May 1998 elections draw closer, Congress will be devoting more of its energies into the campaign which will sideline the lawmaking process (including the approval of the Code in the Senate.)

This is an appeal to all citizens who want to have clean air as well as clean water. Let us put a stop, as early as now, to environmental disasters caused by human negligence like the Marcopper spill in Marinduque, the poisoning of rivers in the Cordilleras by mining firms, the destruction of forests by golf courses sprouting everywhere, and the coliform scare in Boracay, by supporting a Code that will impose heavier penalties on destroyers of our environment.

President Fidel Ramos and DENR Secretary Victor Ramos have appealed to the Senate to approve the Code. Prior to its approval in the House, the Code has undergone 35 technical working group sessions with NGOs, GOs, academic and industry experts.

Please appeal to Senator Orly Mercado and the Senate to approve the Revised Philippine Environmental Code. It would be the first environmental conservation bill passed by the Senate and the first environmental law of its kind to be enacted in the Ramos administration.

(The House of Representatives already passed two others: The Wildlife Resources Protection and Conservation Act and the proposed ban on ecologically harmful hard surfactants used in detergent soaps. The Senate also has no intentions of approving these, by the way.)

Act now. Urge the Senate to act on the Revised Philippine Environmental Code. Send your appeals to:

   Senator Orlando MERCADO
   Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment
   5th Floor, GSIS Bldg.
   Roxas Blvd., Pasay City 
   Metro Manila, Philippines
   Tel Nos. 527-2420/527-2429
   Fax No. 528-0110
   E-Mail:  kondikta@philonline.com.ph

   Senate President Ernesto MACEDA
   6th Floor, GSIS Bldg.
   Roxas Blvd., Pasay City
   Metro Manila, Philippines
   Tel. Nos. 527-4458/527-4464
   Fax No. 527-4452