To protect the environment
I have abundantly criticized the Duterte administration because of the bloody means employed in its “war on drugs.” But I will be generous with praise for President Duterte’s support for Gina Lopez as secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Of all the instrumentalities of the government, the DENR is the most crucial and critical institution. Its mandate is to preserve everything that sustains all forms of life—land, water, air, plants, fish, animals—all of which are indispensable in sustaining human existence.
All other government institutions (e.g., the Departments of Finance, Trade and Industry, Transportation, Justice, Education, Health, etc.) exist for purposes that are less fundamental as the preservation of everything that makes human survival possible.
The reason for the existence of the DENR is not only to regulate the use of our country’s natural resources so that they will sustain the people living at present, but also to ensure that the use of these resources will not prejudice future generations.
The DENR is tasked with the responsibility of making sure that the exploitation of our natural resources for profit will not cause hardship to communities and irreplaceably destroy ecosystems that have uniquely evolved on our islands and that potentially hold scientific secrets that can improve our lives in the future.
We do not have to belabor with evidence the stark reality of the abuse of Philippine air, water, and land. Air quality in the cities is at health-hazard levels. The pollution in the rivers and seas endangers the kind of livelihood that has enabled our ancestors to survive for thousands of years. The denudation of the forests and the destruction of the mountains have made water scarce for homes and farms, and have brought destructive floods to the communities.
No DENR secretary in the past has been as zealously protective of the environment, as impervious to political pressure, and as unaffected by character assassination launched by big business as Lopez.
Many mining companies operating in the country are owned by politicians or connected to auxiliary businesses controlled by politicians.
Lopez has shown no fear stepping on the toes of powerful politicians and influential businessmen involved in mining. She has ordered the closure of 23 mines that were found ruining watershed areas and conducting “indiscriminate mining,” and has suspended five other mines out of a total of 41 mines that were inspected. She has also ordered the cancellation of 75 mining licenses issued in watershed zones.
Lopez saw the permanent danger to people’s lives and the irreparable damage to the environment when she saw destroyed mountains, dead rivers, and acid-ruined farms in mine sites in Zambales, Marinduque, Negros Oriental and Occidental, and the Surigao provinces.
Mining companies have long prevailed in advancing the reasoning that their operations result in a trickle-down of benefits to ordinary people through job creation and growth of small businesses. Lopez has dared put forward the proposition that instead of the little crumbs that ordinary people get as laborers, sari-sari store owners, and habal-habal drivers in mining sites, Philippine mountains and rivers should be better used to nurture livelihood and ecotourism projects that will directly benefit ordinary people.
President Duterte has admirably backed Lopez so far. He should be praised for it.
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