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Yes! It is the time of the year for family reunions, instant parties and adventures. For the certified empty nesters, the much-anticipated events with the vacationing family members certainly bring much pleasure.
When family and clan members are elsewhere, moments of solitude are much welcome. For one so used to multi-tasking, rare free time in my hands brings a real joy! There are so many unread books just waiting to be plucked and read. And, yes, much time to contemplate ? how the year has been, the lessons learned from the challenges, which way to go to attain what one aspires to be and how to be a better human being, each day.
Naturally, my mind drifts to the passion to protect life in this planet. 2009 started on a hopeful note. Still fresh in the minds of the eco-stewards was the December 18, 2008 Ruling of the Supreme Court. It required executive department agencies to clean up and restore the Manila Bay, with the polenta Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco boldly declaring that:
?The era of delays, procrastination, and ad hoc measures is over. Petitioners must transcend their limitations, real or imaginary, and buckle down to work before the problem at hand becomes unmanageable. Thus, we must reiterate that different government agencies and instrumentalities cannot shirk from their mandates; they must perform their basic functions in cleaning up and rehabilitating the Manila Bay.?
For the first time, the tool called continuing mandamus was unleashed by the High Court. But, did it move the enforcing officials to immediate action?
Unfortunately, it did not. It was still ?politics as usual? mindset for the political leaders. Tony Oposa had to threaten the officials with the specter of an imprisonment for defying the Supreme Court order of a quarterly progress report, before they learned to pull their acts together and comply with the directive.
Not to be outdone by the Supreme Court pronouncement, the all-powerful-and-mighty Chief Executive, upon whose hands and direct responsibility the implementation of the laws lies, issued Executive Order No. 774. She gave local government units until June 30 as the ?deadliest deadline? to enforce RA 9003, the Ecological Solid Waste Management Law- by at least fifty per cent compliance.
The EO was a big dud ? as the burning Inayawan ?landfill? and the thousands of methane-producing open dumps all over Cebu and the country would readily show.
For all her daunted ?katarayan?, and the propaganda machinery churned by her apologists that she does care for our environment, with the President given mileage for releasing dolphins to the wild - to prove the point (and conveniently forgetting the sound-sensitive dolphins and whales of Tañon Strait where she allowed decibel-high and polluting oil exploration to take place and shatter the marine mammals? existence and the affected fisherfolks? as well), the President squandered an opportunity of a lifetime to transform the country. For the record, and for failure to comply with EO 774. no local chief executive has been held accountable by the President.
Even if the President did not lift her dainty finger to enforce the law, and the local government officials and other national agencies did not place environment protection in their radar screen, still 2009 was a harvest year for green milestones, among which are:
1.Barangay Luz of Cebu City, under the participatory and creative leadership of Barangay Head Nida Cabrera, won the Galing Pook award for Participatory Environment Management. If 42,000 barangays in the country can each have a catalyst for change like Nida Cabrera, this nation will attain just peace and sustainable development and poverty will be drastically reduced.
2.Antonio Oposa, Jr. won the 2009 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Environment Protection. Tony is leaping more laurels in the international arena. He will soon be conferred an Honorary Citizenship for defending the interests of developing nations in fighting climate change.
3.Our partner, Fisherfolk Development Center (FIDEC) under the stewardship of the tireless ecosteward and human rights campaigner, Vince Cinches, reaped the 2009 Gawad Bayani ng Kalikasan Award (Parangal Para sa Magigiting na Pakikibaka Para sa Kalikasan at Karapatan) given by the Center for Environmental Concerns-Philippines. FIDEC is a leading light in the campaign against Japex oil exploration at Tañon Strait, Nor Asian offshore oil exploration in Argao and Sibonga and the coal-fired power plants.
4.Signing by citizens, including children, of various petitions and citizens suits against non-performing public officials in the implementation of our environmental laws and laws on accountability, as spear headed by Global Legal Action on Climate Change (GLACC).
5.Environmental Justice Summit led by the Supreme Court, in Baguio City, Iloilo City and Davao City, where the draft Procedural Rules on Environmental Cases were presented to the participants for their inputs. We hope that the Rules will soon be promulgated by the Supreme Court. It will change the practice of law in the country and hopefully eradicate the prevailing culture of impunity for the laws of Nature and the Environmental Laws.
6.Cebu Business Club under the dynamic leadership of Dondi Joseph in hosting Environment + Energy = Sustainability Summit.
7.Increased awareness by the public on climate change and the need for action as a result of Typhoon Ondoy.
8.We gained many new partners in the crusade to protect our life support system, in addition to our team of tried-and-true stalwarts of our ailing planet. We thank them for the valued collaboration and cooperation and look forward to more years ahead in fighting for a sustainable future for our children.
Happy New Year to all, including my Cebu Daily News family. Thanks so much for helping make 2009 a truly meaningful year for the environment and this writer.
