Stronger environmental defense thru unity urged
by Grace Plata
SUNSTAR DAVAO
ENVIRONMENTAL groups, students, educators, indigenous leaders, and farmers gathered Friday to discuss environmental issues in Southern Mindanao with calls for stronger environmental defense through unified actions.
The gathering, dubbed as the "Southern Mindanao Conference on the Environment and Development Aggression," was organized by Panalipan-Southern Mindanao Region as conclusion to the weeklong commemoration of Earth Day. "This conference is part of our effort to heighten the fight against the worsening case of development aggression and plunder in the region and the whole country. We must actively address the encroachment of pseudo-development projects, which are the main culprits behind the country's pitiful environmental situation. We can only be successful if we unit and work for a stronger environmental advocacy," Fr. Medardo Salomia,
Panalipdan-SMR vice chair, said. Salomia added that the now highly controversial rice crisis is a problem that has long existed. "It is a mere offshoot of globalization policies mindlessly and heartlessly implemented to the detriment of the Filipino people," Salomia said. Along with the issue on rice crisis, the conference also tackled energy exploration, large-scale mining, and logging with the goal of soliciting suggestions to further strengthen the advocacy campaign on environmental protection including that of lobbying for change in policies that have facilitated continuous damage to the environment. (GLP)
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