Environmental activists launch campaign for passage of three ‘green bills’

In observance of the World Environment Day 2015, human rights and environmental groups have launched a campaign urging lawmakers to pass three "green" or environmental bills pending in the 16th Congress.

Organizers said that through the campaign, they hope to educate the public and the government that “It’s Never Hard to be Green.”

“The campaign seeks to enlist the support of the youth as it proposes an innovative approach through the re-appropriation of Cosplay to 'Causeplay' to highlight the seriousness of the issue packaged in a popular form,”  Youth for Rights (Y4R) spokesperson Danica Duno said Friday.


^{Photo by TFDP}

Other groups behind the campaign include green defenders led by SOS Yamang Bayan Network (SOS YB), Campaign for Land Use Policy Now (CLUP Now!), and Forest Resources Bill Network (FRB).

According to the groups, the campaign will try to educate the people of the international standards set by the United Nations Environment Program – that safe, balanced, and healthy environment is essential in the realization of human rights, not only of the present but also of future generations.

Rep. Teddy Brawner Baguilat Jr – one of the main sponsors of the Alternative Minerals Management Bill (AMMB), Forest Resources Bill (FRB), and the National Land Use Act (NLUA) – said: “The three bills is a call for fundamental change in mindset, behavior, and our whole lifestyle.

Also he said, "It is timely that we remind ourselves our roles as mere stewards of the earth on World Environment Day.”

On the other hand, the groups see the campaign as a final push to pass the three bills as the 2016 elections is approaching.

“By October, the filing of certificates of candidacy will be concluded and the informal campaign period will begin.  Practically, we have six months to renew the push for the three green bills. We have to work harder on the campaign, or the passage of these bills will again be delayed, and be overtaken by the national and local campaigns of the electoral candidates,” said Kimberly Alvarez of KAISAHAN, the secretariat of the CLUP Now!

One of PNoy’s priority bills, the NLUA is yet to be passed. The attempt to put in place a national land use policy began in the 9th Congress.

For his part, Akbayan Rep. Ibarra Gutierrez said, “The three green bills are inextricably intertwined. All seek to protect and regulate the use of our natural resources against the onslaught of corporate greed and the drive for gargantuan profits.”

The campaign is to culminate on the annual GREEN MARCH to be held days before the State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Benigno Aquino III on July 27. — Egay Cabalitan/LBG, GMA News