PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has shown a bold and uncompromising stance in the war against illegal drugs, and to some extent in crime and corruption. True to what he said during his inauguration, these are his priority areas. While there are diverse opinions on the manner in which he implements his policies, he cannot be accused of being half-hearted, or tentative.
The same cannot be said, however, of the President’s policy on the environment.
Mr. Duterte has issued at best conflicting statements on how he intends to ensure a healthy balance between using up resources today and making provisions for future generations.
For example, talking at a business forum in February, at the height of the campaign, Duterte expressed support for the mining industry provided players acted responsibly and abided by law and regulations. But upon his assumption of the presidency, he appointed, as secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, a known anti-mining “crusader” in the person of Regina Lopez. The environment secretary has been quoted as saying there is no such thing as responsible mining.
“If there is responsible mining, why is it that whenever there is mining there is poverty?…The poorest sites in the world are mining areas,” she said.
Duterte then lashed out at big mining companies, daring them to “shape up” because they were supposedly destroying the environment.
Only the big mining interests from Manila were benefiting from these arrangements, he said.
And then there is the issue of greenhouse gas emissions.
During a campaign debate, Duterte called the United Nations a hypocrite for encouraging developing countries to curb their carbon emissions when it is the industrialized countries who have been spewing these gases into the atmosphere for centuries.
He also derided the apparent shift to renewable energy, citing the country’s dire need for power which can only be supplied by coal-fired power plants.
Lopez, prior to her government appointment, has advocated a complete shunning of coal plants, citing their deleterious effect on the health and well-being of the residents of communities in which they operate.
Mr. Duterte has also said—and emphatically—that he would not honor the Paris Agreement which the Philippines and 195 other countries arrived at in December after the Conference of Parties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
But by virtue of his office, Duterte is also the chairman of the Climate Change Commission, the body tasked by law to craft mitigation and adaptation policies in relation to climate change. He has thus far been silent on how he intends to discharge his leadership role here.
Environmental issues are no less urgent than the problem of drugs, crime, corruption or poverty. These have short- and long-term consequences on the people. Specifically, these affect how people live and how well. They dictate whether communities can be resilient in times of extreme weather events to which the country, as an archipelago, has become even more prone. They decide whether our investments today will bear fruit tomorrow or will just go to waste. They determine whether our children’s children will be able to provide for their own needs, and sustainably so.
President Duterte’s advisers must be reminded of their job to make him appreciate, and thoroughly, the complex issues surrounding the environment. The resulting policy—objective, consistent and unequivocal, will guide the next crucial steps of the administration.