THE social action arm of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, the Caritas Philippines (CBCP-NASSA), and the Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED) urged the national government’s environment department to combat the threats to wildlife and the causes of biodiversity loss in the country.
On the occasion of World Environment month and World Oceans Day even urged the incoming government to protect and carry out the Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004 (Republic Act No. 9275) to the main shipping route between the Port of Manila and the Visayas and Mindanao in the south, the Verde Island Passage (VIP).
“As we celebrate the bounty of nature and all the good we receive from it, we also raise alarm against an industry seeking to impose environmental destruction even as a climate and ecological crisis already rages: fossil gas,” said CBCP-NASSA executive secretary Fr. Tony Labiao.
“We are in solidarity with communities that are already or set to be impacted by it, and we stand firm in our commitment to fight dirty energy and care for this earth we call home,” said Labiao.
“The Act (Republic Act No. 9275) should always be implemented in all Philippines waters. The VIP, this passage is the busiest sea lane in the Philippines,” said CEED executive director Gerry Arances, adding a strait that separates the islands of Luzon and Mindoro, connecting the South China Sea with the Tayabas Bay and the Sibuyan Sea beyond.
Arances said the VIP is a marine biodiversity hotspot known as the center of marine shore fish biodiversity in the world, housing 60% of all known shore fish species and thousands of other species.
It is, however, also the epicenter of fossil gas projects in the Philippines, a fossil fuel falsely touted as a clean alternative to coal. Five of six existing gas-fired power plants, eight planned new LNG and fossil gas plants, and seven new LNG terminals are intended to be built here. This is but a portion of the 29.9 GW of fossil gas power and nine LNG terminals in the national pipeline.
“Fossil gas is a bane for the environment,” Arances said as what he sees and will see happening in VIP will be mirrored in communities host to fossil gas projects across the country.
The gas industry has been peddling lies in its ability to provide cheap, clean, and reliable electricity. All-time high gas prices today prove this is not true, and the glimpse we get to see today of the environmental destruction it can cause proves that it is simply unwise to go for fossil gas expansion.
“Unfortunately, this is the direction our next government seems intent on taking ― and this calls for a thorough rethinking,” said Arances.
“We urge the government, particularly the DENR, to protect the coastal waters and rich marine resources of Central Luzon from degradation, in support of the Month of the Ocean (MOO) celebration,” Arances added.
The Philippines is home to a variety of coral and fish species. As the center of the Coral Triangle, it is home to more than 500 coral species and 2,500 reef fishes, and other marine biodiversity, he said adding that out of the more than 67 global species of seagrasses, 18 of which are found in the Philippines.
Meanwhile, the groups earlier, led by Bukluran ng Mangingisda ng Batangas (BMB), filed a letter request at the main office of the DENR urging the department to declare the waters of VIP surrounding the SMC, Linseed-AG&P, and existing gas power plant project sites as a ‘non-attainment area’ were “specific pollutants either natural or man-made source have already exceeded water quality guidelines” where no new sources of the exceeded pollutants should be allowed to be established.
“Kami po ay sumusulat sa inyong butihing opisina para sa kapakanan ng mga miyembro ng BMB, mangingisda at lahat ng mga komunidad na nakadepende ang mga kabuhayan at pagkain sa VIP,” said BMB chairperson Tomas Buitizon.
“We are responding… to your immediate action and to declare VIP and neighboring areas such as Batangas Bay East, Verde Island Passage, and surrounding waters as non-attainment area/s for pollutants. under the Philippine Clean Water Act,” Buitizon said.
“It is necessary to prevent further increase of such pollutants as it is an important form of water,” wrote the groups, led by the BMB.
The pro-environmental advocates also said an Act provides for comprehensive water quality management and for other purposes.
This Act provides for the abatement and control of pollution from land-based sources and lays down water quality standards and regulations, according to Buitizon.
The groups added that the country’s richness in marine biological diversity comes to the fore as the DENR should always be the one leading in the celebration of May as Ocean Month and May 22 as International Day of Biodiversity.
