Environment groups urged all candidates to prioritize pro-climate and environment agenda in the discussion of their platforms as the campaign period for national candidates starts on Tuesday, Feb. 8.
In a statement, Caritas Philippines Vice-Chairperson Most Rev. Gerardo Alminaza, D.D., told candidates to safeguard the environment to better future generations.
"Above anything else, politics should endeavor to serve the poorest and most vulnerable sectors and not the other way around. Leaders should be servants of the flock and should not take advantage of their positions to gain glory, power, and money," Alminaza said on Monday, Feb. 7.
Sectoral leaders of over 100 civil society organizations (CSOs) and interfaith-based groups also emphasized the need for a greener economic development framework.
They said they want the next leaders to take a stand and create opportunities towards a model of sustainable development and protect the country's interests related to its natural resources and territorial sovereignty.
Greenresearch Executive Director and environmental sociologist Patria Gwen Borcena said the economy and environmental care should be complementary.
"The conservation, protection, and rehabilitation (CPR) of the environment and natural resources (ENR) should be prioritized over the agenda of further utilizing these for-profit and short-term ends of humanity," Borcena said in a statement.
Meanwhile, EcoWaste Caolition National Coordinator Aileen Lucero said that next leaders should uphold the ban on waste incineration, waste imports, single-use plastics, and products and packaging materials containing harmful chemical additives.
"The upcoming polls provide our citizens with an opportunity to install leaders at the national and local levels who will pursue, together with our people, holistic and sustainable solutions, not band-aid schemes, to our country's garbage and pollution woes. Let us not waste this opportunity and pick leaders on May 9 who will steer our country toward a socially just, zero waste and toxics-free society," she said.