NEDA-approved development plan lack principle of sustainability, reforms – groups

GREEN groups belonging to the Caucus to Green the MTPDP expressed alarm that the recently approved Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) for 2011-2016 by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) lacks the principles of sustainability and reforms to concretize President Aquino’s Social Contract with the Filipino People.

At a press briefing held in Quezon City a day after the approval of the MTPDP, the Caucus to Green the MTPDP expressed apprehension that the key inputs by citizens’ groups to ‘Green the MTPDP’ were mysteriously omitted.

Led by the private think tank La Liga Policy Institute (La Liga) they said citizens’ groups inputs in (1) the areas of food self sufficiency based on sustainable, ecological and organic agriculture, (2) disaster risk reduction and management, (3) improved ecosystem, soil and water management, and (4) sustainable, off grid, decentralized, community based, efficient and new renewable energy systems were noticeably absent in the MTPDP that was approved by the NEDA Board.

“We were particularly distressed that the proposal for a “Green Audit” that will allow for a continuing review and adjustment of the country’s development plan in terms of its consistency with environment sustainability was also omitted,” Jonathan Ronquillo, environment campaigner of La Liga stressed.

The provision for a “Green Audit” originally formed part of the draft Chapter on Environment and Natural Resources.  It was, however, unilaterally excluded in the final draft MTPDP, Ronquillo stressed.

Worse, Ronquillo said that disaster risk reduction, mitigation and recovery projects, were also delisted from the Investment Priorities Plan for 2011 based on short economic returns.

“It seems that our pleas for Pres. Aquino to lead the path towards “greening” the MTPDP, to break free from the failed development track of the previous administration, was not considered, or worst, ignored,” he said.

“We have implored President Aquino’s administration time and again not to relent in pursuing conservation, protection and rehabilitation of our environment and natural resources as it is the best socio-economic safety net for our largely ecologically-dependent and highly vulnerable communities.

According to Ronquillo, in its relentless pursuit of growth, the previous administration failed to recognize the already over-stretched carrying capacity of the environment and natural resources.

“More than anything, the previous MTPDP failed to consider that the environment is the social security system of the poor, and without environment sustainability, millions of Filipinos would be denied the opportunity for sustainable growth,” he lamented.

He said: Because of this, poverty has not been curbed, food security has not been achieved, and our national vulnerability to climate change has increased. Clearly, the last decade was a lost decade for environment sustainability and sustainable development and more could have been done towards this end. This is the challenge that President Aquino’s MTPDP should address.

Knowing fully that this situation must be reversed, we, the Caucus to Green the MTPDP ask the government: Where are the principles of sustainability and reforms in the 2011-2016 MTPDP?”

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 The “Caucus to Green the MTPDP” includes Action for Economic Reforms (AER), Alternative Budget Initiative-Environment Cluster (ABI-ENVI), Angkan ng Mandirigma UP Diliman Chapter, Asia Intercontinental Networks of Organic Farmers, Batas Tomasino, UST, Bluewater Consultancy, Convergence for Community-Centered Area Development, Earthday Network Phils., EcoWaste Coalition, Education for Life Foundation (ELF), Go Organic! Phils., Greenpeace Southeast Asia, Haribon Foundation, Haribon Foundation, Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC), Institute for Philippine Cooperative and Social Enterprise Development (IPCSED),Intercontinental Network of Organic Farmers Organizations (INOFO Philippines), Interface Development Interventions, Inc (IDIS) of Davao, Mindanao, KAAKBAY, Movement for the Advancement of Sustainable Agriculture (MASA), One Organic Movement (OOM), Partido Kalikasan (PK), Partnership for Clean Air, Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM), RESILIENCE, Nurturing Disaster Ready Cities and Communities, Rice Watch and Action Network (RWAN), Saganang Buhay sa Liga ng Bayan Foundation, Inc., Sagip Sierra Madre Environmental Society, Inc. (SSMESI), Sibol ng Agham at Technolohiya, Inc. (SIBAT), Sierra Tourism Consultancy, Social Watch Philippines (SWP), World Wildlife Fund Philippines and Zero Waste Recycling Movement of the Philippines.

Statement of the Caucus to Green the MTPDP on the approval of the 2011-2016 Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP)

Where are the Principles of Sustainability and Reforms in the 2011-2016 MTPDP that was recently “approved in principle” by President Aquino?

Statement of the Caucus to Green the MTPDP on the approval of the 2011-2016 Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP)

March 30, 2011

The crafting of the new MTPDP under President Aquino’s leadership provided renewed interest from a broad range of citizen’s groups and other stakeholders such as the Caucus to Green the MTPDP to meaningfully participate in both formal and parallel processes with the aim of pursuing and concretizing reforms contained in the President’s Social Contract with the Filipino People.

We are concerned over the ever-increasing vulnerability of our country to climate change and disasters even as we are already experiencing its ill effects.  Any plan for the country’s growth and development will unfortunately be an exercise in futility IF it does not integrate concerted, extraordinary and urgent actions on climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction and on our strategic transformation to a low-carbon economy. This is the reason why in all the processes, we have insisted on the need to “green” the MTPDP, to make the MTPDP climate change responsive.

We express apprehension that in the recently approved 2011-2016 MTPDP, key inputs of citizen’s groups were noticeably absent, particularly in the following arenas:  a) food self sufficiency based on sustainable, ecological and organic agriculture; b) disaster risk reduction & management; c) improved ecosystem, soil and water management; and, d) sustainable, off grid, decentralized, community based, efficient and new renewable energy systems.

We are particularly distressed that the proposal for a “Green Audit” allowing for a continuing review and adjustment of the country’s development plan in terms of its consistency with environment sustainability that originally formed part of the draft Chapter on Environment and Natural Resources were unilaterally excluded in the final MTPDP.

We are alarmed that disaster risk reduction, mitigation and recovery projects were delisted from the Investment Priorities Plan for 2011 based on short economic returns.

We have humbly urged President Aquino to lead the path towards “greening” the MTPDP, to break free from the failed development track of the previous administration.

We have implored the government time and again not to relent in pursuing conservation, protection and rehabilitation of our environment and natural resources as it is the best socio-economic safety net for our largely ecologically-dependent and highly vulnerable communities.

Looking at the situation we face today, it is apparent that the previous MTPDP did not go far enough. In its relentless pursuit of growth, it failed to recognize the already over stretched carrying capacity of our environment and natural resources.  More than anything, it failed to consider that the environment is the social security system of the poor, and without environment sustainability, millions of Filipinos would be denied the opportunity for sustainable growth.

As a result, poverty has not been curbed, food security has not been achieved, and our national vulnerability to climate change has increased. Clearly, the last decade was a lost decade for environment sustainability and sustainable development and more could have been done towards this end.

Knowing fully that this situation must be reversed, we, the Caucus to Green the MTPDP ask the government, Where are the Principles of Sustainability and Reforms in the 2011-2016 MTPDP?

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 The “Caucus to Green the MTPDP” includes Action for Economic Reforms (AER), Alternative Budget Initiative-Environment Cluster (ABI-ENVI), Angkan ng Mandirigma UP Diliman Chapter, Asia Intercontinental Networks of Organic Farmers, Batas Tomasino, UST, Bluewater Consultancy, Convergence for Community-Centered Area Development, Earthday Network Phils., EcoWaste Coalition, Education for Life Foundation (ELF), Go Organic! Phils., Greenpeace Southeast Asia, Haribon Foundation, Haribon Foundation, Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC), Institute for Philippine Cooperative and Social Enterprise Development (IPCSED),Intercontinental Network of Organic Farmers Organizations (INOFO Philippines), Interface Development Interventions, Inc (IDIS) of Davao, Mindanao, KAAKBAY, Movement for the Advancement of Sustainable Agriculture (MASA), One Organic Movement (OOM), Partido Kalikasan (PK), Partnership for Clean Air, Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM), RESILIENCE, Nurturing Disaster Ready Cities and Communities, Rice Watch and Action Network (RWAN), Saganang Buhay sa Liga ng Bayan Foundation, Inc., Sagip Sierra Madre Environmental Society, Inc. (SSMESI), Sibol ng Agham at Technolohiya, Inc. (SIBAT), Sierra Tourism Consultancy, Social Watch Philippines (SWP), World Wildlife Fund Philippines and Zero Waste Recycling Movement of the Philippines.

Green groups demand for ‘green audit’, inclusion in MTPDP 2011-2016

ENVIRONMENTAL groups belonging to the Caucus to Green the MTPDP expressed serious concern over the removal of the “green audit” provision in the latest draft chapter on Environment and Natural Resources of the Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) for 2011-2016.

Led by the nongovernment organization La Liga Policy Institute (La Liga), the group wants the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) to reconsider its unilateral decision to omit the provision for a “Green Audit” in Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino’s MTPDP, saying such may again lead to another lost decade for environment sustainability suffered by the country during the previous administration.

The group has been calling for Pres. Aquino to make a clean break from the failed development track of his predecessor, which, among others, disregarded the country’s overstretched carrying capacity that led to a decade of environmental blight.

They said that the continuing degradation of the environment that heightens our vulnerability to disasters adversely affecting the Philippines, make a business-as-usual attitude in national development planning very dangerous for a country already feeling the brunt of climate change.

Jonathan Ronquillo, environment campaigner of La Liga, said the new administration can address the environmental challenges faced by thePhilippineshead-on though the conduct of a “Green Audit”.

Conducting a “Green Audit”, he said, will mainstream conservation, protection and rehabilitation of the environment and natural resources as it will allow for a continuing review and adjustment of the country’s development plan in terms of its consistency with environment sustainability.

The proposal was already included in previous drafts of the MTPDP, as proposed by citizens’ groups engaging the MTPDP processes but the said proposal mysteriously went missing in the latest draft released by NEDA as of last month.

“The conduct of a “green audit” should be institutionalized and be made integral in the MTPDP 2011-2016.  We need to know where we stand as far as the country’s carrying capacity is concerned and we need to know which path our MTPDP will lead us to,” Ronquillo stressed.

Earlier, the Caucus to Green the MTPDP, through a letter, asked Pres. Aquino to issue the necessary directive that will start the “Green Audit” as provided in the Environment Chapter of the MTPDP 2011-2016.

Aside from the “Green Audit” in the Environment Chapter, the members of the Caucus to Green the MTPDP have also recommended that the same be institutionalized in the other chapters of the MTPDP, to ensure that they comply with citizens’ group’s demand to give premium to conservation, protection and rehabilitation efforts.

“Clearly, the last decade was a lost decade for environment sustainability.  Pres. Aquino should lead the path towards “greening” the MTPDP by breaking free from the failed development track of the previous administration,” Ronquillo said.

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The “Caucus to Green the MTPDP” includes Action for Economic Reforms (AER), Alternative Budget Initiative-Environment Cluster (ABI-ENVI), Angkan ng Mandirigma UP Diliman Chapter, Asia Intercontinental Networks of Organic Farmers, Batas Tomasino, UST, Bluewater Consultancy, Convergence for Community-Centered Area Development, Earthday Network Phils., EcoWaste Coalition, Education for Life Foundation (ELF), Go Organic! Phils., Greenpeace Southeast Asia, Haribon Foundation, Haribon Foundation, Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC), Institute for Philippine Cooperative and Social Enterprise Development (IPCSED),Intercontinental Network of Organic Farmers Organizations (INOFO Philippines), Interface Development Interventions, Inc (IDIS) of Davao, Mindanao, KAAKBAY, Movement for the Advancement of Sustainable Agriculture (MASA), One Organic Movement (OOM), Partido Kalikasan (PK), Partnership for Clean Air, Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM), RESILIENCE, Nurturing Disaster Ready Cities and Communities, Rice Watch and Action Network (RWAN), Saganang Buhay sa Liga ng Bayan Foundation, Inc., Sagip Sierra Madre Environmental Society, Inc. (SSMESI), Sibol ng Agham at Technolohiya, Inc. (SIBAT), Sierra Tourism Consultancy, Social Watch Philippines (SWP), World Wildlife Fund Philippines and Zero Waste Recycling Movement of the Philippines.

‘Green the MTPDP’ – Aquino asked to ‘break free from failed development track’ of GMA administration

LEADERS of various citizens groups and individuals on Thursday called on Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III to clearly “define the directions and the blueprint” for the country’s growth and development in the next five years through a well-crafted Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) for 2011-2016.

Groups belonging to the “Caucus to Green the MTPDP” led by the La Liga Policy Institute (La Liga) which now includes former cabinet secretaries and members of the academic community expressed concern over the increasing vulnerability of the country to climate change, thus issuing the resounding call to urgently “green the MTPDP.”

They include former Agrarian Reform Secretary Horacio “Boy” Morales, former TESDA Director General Edicio G. dela Torre, former DENR Secretary Elisea “Bebet” Gozun, former National Treasurer Leonor “Liling” Magtolis-Briones, Dean Oscar B. Zamora, UPLB Graduate School, Dean Rex Victor O. Cruz, UPLB College of Forestry and Natural Resources, Dean Ma. Victoria O. Espaldon, UPLB School of Environmental Science, and Dean Domingo E. Angeles, UPLB College of Agriculture.

The call to “Green the MTPDP” was made as the nation commemorates the 25th anniversary of EDSA People Power on February 25, which saw the fall of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos and the rise to power of the country’s first ever woman president, the late Corazon C. Aquino, mother of P’Noy.

“We look forward to the fulfillment of its (Edsa People Power) promise of a better future for all Filipinos. Let us build together, a greener, more sustainable, resilient and climate change readyPhilippines,” they told Aquino.

They also called on Pres. Aquino to issue the necessary directive that would start the “Green Audit” provided under Chapter 9 of the draft MTPDP, which covers the environment and natural resources, allowing for a continuing review and adjustment of the country’s development plan in terms of its consistency with environmental sustainability.

“Any plan for the country’s growth and development will unfortunately be an exercise in futility if it does not integrate concerted, extraordinary and urgent actions on climate change adaptation and on our strategic transformation to a low-carbon economy.  Together we must insist to “green” the MTPDP, to make the MTPDP climate change responsive,” they said in a press statement.

The current MTPDP draft, they said, needs improvement particularly in the areas of food self sufficiency that should be based on sustainable, ecological and organic agriculture, disaster risk reduction and management, improved ecosystem, soil and water management, sustainable, off grid, decentralized, community based, efficient and new renewable energy systems.

Plans and programs around these areas, they said, will ensure that growth and poverty reduction strategies contained in the MTPDP are not just climate change-responsive but sustainable as well.

“Looking at the situation we face today, it is apparent that the previous MTPDP did not go far enough. In its relentless pursuit of growth, it failed to recognize the already over stretched carrying capacity of our environment and natural resources,” they argued.

In fact, they stressed that the previous MTPDP failed to consider that the environment is the social security system of the poor, and without environment sustainability, millions of Filipinos would be denied the opportunity for sustainable growth.

“As a result, poverty has not been curbed, food security has not been achieved, and our national vulnerability to climate change has increased. Clearly, the last decade was a lost decade for environment sustainability and sustainable development.  This situation must be reversed,” they said.

They appealed to Pres. Aquino to lead the path towards “greening” the MTPDP, by breaking free from the failed development track of the previous administration.

They said in recently effecting a national logging ban, Pres. Aquino has exercised political will.

“We hope you do not relent in pursuing conservation, protection and rehabilitation of our environment and natural resources as it is the best socio-economic safety net for our largely ecologically-dependent and highly vulnerable communities,” they said.

The “Caucus to Green the MTPDP” includes Action for Economic Reforms (AER), Alternative Budget Initiative-Environment Cluster (ABI-ENVI), Angkan ng Mandirigma UP Diliman Chapter, Asia Intercontinental Networks of Organic Farmers, Batas Tomasino, UST, Bluewater Consultancy, Convergence for Community-Centered Area Development, Earthday Network Phils., EcoWaste Coalition, Education for Life Foundation (ELF), Go Organic! Phils., Greenpeace Southeast Asia, Haribon Foundation, Haribon Foundation, Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC), Institute for Philippine Cooperative and Social Enterprise Development (IPCSED), Intercontinental Network of Organic Farmers Organizations (INOFO Philippines), Interface Development Interventions, Inc (IDIS) of Davao, Mindanao, KAAKBAY, Movement for the Advancement of Sustainable Agriculture (MASA), One Organic Movement (OOM), Partido Kalikasan (PK), Partnership for Clean Air, Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM), RESILIENCE, Nurturing Disaster Ready Cities and Communities, Rice Watch and Action Network (RWAN), Saganang Buhay sa Liga ng Bayan Foundation, Inc., Sagip Sierra Madre Environmental Society, Inc. (SSMESI), Sibol ng Agham at Technolohiya, Inc. (SIBAT), Sierra Tourism Consultancy, Social Watch Philippines (SWP), World Wildlife Fund Philippines and Zero Waste Recycling Movement of the Philippines.