‘Sorrow’ over CA’s decision

The Filipino fisherfolk are in great sorrow over the recent decision of the powerful Commission on Appointments (CA) not to confirm the appointment of Secretary Gina Lopez to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The fisherfolk lost a reliable ally against environmental plunderers.

It is the first time in our history that an environment secretary who favors the interests of fisherfolk and ordinary people, over the narrow and class interest of the few oligarchs, has been appointed. One of the notable highlights of her brief stint at the DENR, aside from her unprecedented closure of giant mines, was her thrust to demolish the vast expanse of fishpens in Laguna de Bay—fishpens owned by big-time fishing firms and powerful individuals conniving with corrupt officials of the Laguna Lake Development Authority and local government units.

For years, fisherfolk, deprived of their communal fishing ground by these powerful individuals and firms, have been calling for the removal of the fishpens from the 90,000-hectare brackish inland water. But their cries have fallen on deaf ears. That is, until President Duterte appointed Lopez, whose flagship thrusts included the rehabilitation of Laguna de Bay. Lopez gave the lake’s small fisherfolk a light of hope.

In fact, Lopez, through direct consultations, provided fisherfolk and grassroot sectors opportunities to express their views on government and corporate projects that would affect their civil and economic rights.

Aside from heeding our call for the demolition of the fishpens of Laguna de Bay, Lopez was also convinced to put an end to all reclamation activities in the lake, which primarily contribute to its pollution.

With Lopez’s rejection by the CA, we fear that the propeople, and undeniably proenvironment, policies she started during the few months she was the secretary might be reversed. We call on whoever succeeds her to hew to the path she blazed toward genuine rehabilitation and preservation of the environment, without neglecting the civil, political and socioeconomic rights of the people, especially those of farmers and fisherfolk.

We likewise invite Lopez to continue with her proenvironment policies even outside the DENR, in an ever-strengthening and expanding unity with the Filipino people fighting for the environment and general welfare.

FERNANDO HICAP, national chair, Pamalakaya-Pilipinas, pamalakayapid@gmail.com