Ridiculous and Confused

"Ridiculous and confused” is how Greenpeace describes Executive Order 774. Issued last week by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the executive order reorganizes the Presidential Task Force on Climate Change which she now heads, in effect appointing herself the “Environment Czar,” among her many titles.

In a statement, Greenpeace Southeast Asia Climate and Energy Campaigner Amalie Obusan said that while the intention behind the order may have been “sincere and creditable,” the thinking put into its creation seems muddled.

For one, said Obusan, the order tasks government agencies and bodies to follow laws and regulations that are already in place and which should have been followed and implemented soon after their enactment. For instance, the order says all government agencies should follow the Solid Waste Act, which should already be implemented and are in fact being followed by some local government units and communities.

EO 774 likewise requires the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to “survey, map and protect watershed areas,” which is already one of its responsibilities. It orders that waterways and riverbanks should be cleared of obstructions, already directed under the Clean Water Act, and orders a compliance audit of the Fisheries Code, a task already assigned to the Department of Agriculture. The order also mandates the creation of a Task Group on Renewable Energy to lead the swift implementation of the Renewable Energy Law, “precisely already the duty of the Department of Energy.”

In other words, EO 774 introduces no fresh initiatives or groundbreaking approaches, while creating the impression that the President is taking charge of a bold new environmental effort.

“Any Climate Change Task Force should focus on wide-reaching and lasting solutions, beginning with phasing out coal and nuclear plants, and initiating a massive shift to renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies,” the Greenpeace statement said.

“The President is already head of the government. To appoint herself as chair of a body which mandates government agencies to fulfill what are already their responsibilities — and to put aside a budget for that purpose — is absurd. If, in mandating this reorganization, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wants to fashion herself as a ‘climate change czar,’ she could do a lot more by personally ensuring the effective implementation of the Renewable Energy Law and guaranteeing that dirty coal and nuclear energy will not override the mainstreaming of clean, renewable energy sources in the country,” it added.

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How surprisingly stupid she is claiming as Environmental Czar introducing nothing!

This is just publicity for publicity's sake to show her in control, when in fact she's so busy for 2010.
I hope her ratings would go up after proclaiming a number of new titles for herself rendering her cabinet useless.

I think, the Philippines, being a third World country would be last to take the environmental issues as a key concern except that we can devote the stimulus package being proposed by Congress to create jobs by employing street sweepers in the Metro.

That is all we can do for now: to keep at least, our vicinity clean if that's our definition of environment.

At the moment, developed countries are making radical steps towards less dependence on fossil fuels and conventional energy resouces. Electric and hybrid cars are becoming popular in the US and stricter emissions rules are being implemented to reduce the effects of the warming of the planet.

When cars in major countries turn electric, petroleum based cars would likely end up and dumped in smaller countries like ours and we remain a small, dirty, carbon emitting country in the planet. Recently, here in UAE, cars more than 10 years old are refused registration. Taxis, have only 5 years life span. With millions of cars becoming obsolete, thrid world economies most likely will serve as dumpsites for these vehicles while developed economies enjoy a cleaner, safer, carbon-free world.

This is not to belittle the Philippines, but we cannot truly make a huge effort on the environment except on making our surroundings clean. Not because we don't have the potential to develop alternative energy sources, we do, we already have in small scale. Problem is, that is not the priority of our Government.

We don't even take our R&D seriously. In fact, we barely have a budget for it amounting to only 0.18% of our national budget in 2004 and significantly lower this year. This means, our science, ingenuity and innovation doesn't get the attention it deserves.