Although the Green Vote campaign recognizes Davao City’s efforts to protect the environment, the groups behind it insist more drastic actions are needed to realize these goals. Good governance, they say, plays a key role in protecting the environment. They blame corruption for much of the environmental destruction.
By Grace S. Uddin
davaotoday.com
DAVAO CITY — Geraldine Catalan, 35, a farmer, has been growing vegetables, rice and corn in a patch of land in Talomo River, Calinan District, this city. She is among several farmers in the area who has turned to organic farming because it is safe for the environment and for the health.
Good health is very important for poor farmers like us, she says. When we get sick, we dont have enough money to buy medicine, says Catalan, who grows her crops mainly for her familys consumption, selling the surplus at the city market.
But Catalan realized that even if she and her neighbors turned organic, huge plantations using pesticides and other chemicals surround their farms, making their small health-promoting efforts practically pointless.
Worried over the continuing neglect on the environment, organic farmers like Catalan — shes a member of Kolos Neng Bi Lito, a group that empowers women — joins the Davao City Green Vote 2007, a movement that aims to make the environment an election issue in the upcoming May elections.
The group wants to make the environment an issue in the May elections, by asking the public to choose leaders that have specific agenda to address environmental concerns.
We want to find out the environmental plans of the candidates, engage them in specific issues, says Lia Jasmin Esquillo, executive director of the Interface Development Interventions (IDIS), one of the groups spearheading Green Vote.
But Esquillo said they are not going to endorse any candidate. They also want to avoid the impression that Green Vote is a political campaign of someone running for the election. It will be the people who will decide,” Esquillo explains. The campaign involves forums and discussions on politics and environmental issues.
Green Vote will conduct a series of forums for candidates to discuss their environment platform, their stand on urgent environment issues and assess the previous environment programs in the city.
This is not going to be a one- shot deal, said Dr. Jean Lindo of the Davao Medical Society and Philippine Medical Womens Association. Well see to it that the candidates will keep their words.
Green Vote recently initiated a covenant signing on the Davao Environment Agenda, where candidates for mayor and vice mayor were asked to express, in the presence of citizens, their commitments on such issues like solid waste management, environmental health concerns, upland watershed management, the Clean Air Act, among others. The covenant will be finalized and presented to the public in early April.
Davao City has already created various landmark legislations to protect its natural resources. Among these are the Davao City Water Code of 2001, the Ban Aerial Spraying Ordinance, and the Watershed Code late this year, the Trees for our Children Project, the Environment Code and the Coastal Management Code.
Although the Green Vote campaign recognizes these efforts, the groups behind it insist more drastic actions are needed to realize these goals. Good governance, they say, plays a key role in protecting the environment. They blame corruption for much of the environmental destruction. (Grace Uddin/davaotoday.com)
2007 Elections
