DAVAO CITY — At least nine city council candidates have been invited to the first of the series of political forums on April 16 (Monday) in line with the Davao City Green Vote 2007, the campaign of various schools, nongovernment organizations, peoples organizations and other civil-society groups aimed at making environment a political issue in the coming elections.
The said candidates, all of them from the first district of Davao, will be given their chance to present to the public their own environmental agenda with the current worsening environmental condition and a chance for the voters to ask concrete questions to the candidates.
Lia Jasmin Esquillo, one of the convenors of the Green Vote 2007, said the forum can become the candidates way of making public their specific environmental priorities should they be put into office vis--vis the importance being given by the public to issues concerning the environment.
There is growing public awareness and concern for the environment and this will definitely become one of the things that the public will consider in choosing their future leaders, Esquillo said.
The forum on Monday will be held at 2:00 pm at the gymnasium of the Ateneo de Davao University at Jacinto St.
Invited for the said forum are incumbent council members Nilo Abellera, Maria Belen Acosta, Leo Avila, Pilar Braga, Peter Lavia, Bonifacio Militar, and Angela Librado. Of the neophyte candidates, invited are Edgar Ibuyan and Randy Ponteras.
The response of the candidates to the invitation, Esquillo said, will be an important yardstick of their political will and desire to remedy the worsening environmental crisis confronting the world today.
We also invite the residents of District 1 to attend the forum and participate. This is a very important event and should never be missed. The people should do something about their awareness of the problem. This awareness must be translated into action by choosing the right people to lead us, Esquillo said.
In Davao City, various environmental problems have recently been on the limelightwidely discussed and debated publicly. The passage of the anti-aerial spraying ordinance also became a litmus paper to test the political will of the leadership of the current city government.
Also currently, only a handful of the local legislators are known for being environmental activists.
The Green Vote 2007 was generally aimed at sustaining the awareness of the public of the environmental issues in choosing leaders in the coming elections and providing voters with relevant information on the environmental platforms of candidates as their bases for selecting leaders.
After every forum, the candidates will be invited to sign a covenant with ecologically-minded candidates for the implementation of a priority agenda to be implemented in the next three years.
On April 19, the same forum will also be staged for the candidates of District 3 at the Holy Cross College of Calinan and on April 28 for District 2 bets at Vicente Hizon Sr. Elementary School at Lanang.
2007 Elections
