BY RANDY NOBLEZA
PRESIDENT Arroyo and Environment Secretary
Joselito Atienza on Saturday were named "worst polluter and
environmental destroyer" by environmental groups.
"Under PGMA, ang isyu ng basura, depletion
ng marine resources, libreng pagpasok ng commercial fishermen,
liberalization ng investment with equal national treatment,
patuloy pa rin ang pagkasira sa kalikasan," said Clemente
Bautista, national coordinator of Kalikasan Peoples Network
for the Environment.
Bautista said Arroyo has prodded
legislators to fast track the approval of the JPEPA
(Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement while
belittling claims that the country would be a dumping ground
of toxic wastes from Japan.
"No deal JPEPA," a broad coalition of
non-government organizations, cited the urgency of opposing
the ratification of JPEPA which they said would degrade the
environment.
Atienza had assured the Asia Mining
Congress in Singapore that government efforts to attract
mining investors are being matched with environmental
safeguards in the aftermath of the Rapu-Rapu island mine
tailings disasters, but anti-mining groups remain cynical.
TAKDER Cordillera Peoples Alliance said
adverse effects would be replicated in Abra, one of the
country’s mining hotspots.
At present, there are 14 exploration permit
applications being processed, three approved Mineral
Production and Sharing Agreements and one Financial and
Technical Assistance Agreement application.
The Earth Island Institute, an international NGO which
develops and supports projects that counteract threats to the
biological and cultural diversity that sustain the
environment, warned that in a span of less than two decades,
marine life and land mammals would become endangered species
due to environmental neglect.
