DAVAO CITY – Lawyer and Davao City Council member Leah Librado has urged the public to protect the environment and preserve natural resources ahead of the Earth Day celebration on Wednesday.
Librado, chairperson of the Committee on Women, said: “We have to give significance to our environment and take measures on how to protect and preserve whatever resources we have at the moment.”
She also called on the people to take an active part in the local Earth Day activities.
Librado said women are the most vulnerable from climate change and other environmental disasters, not only because of the impact brought about by disasters and calamities but also because of the fact that majority of women’s livelihood in the country rely on our natural resources like farming, fishing and vending.
She said mining operations remain a big problem to many indigenous communities in Mindanao because of its effect not only to humans, but to environment as well.
“In celebrating Earth Day, I am standing to bring to the attention of the public especially among government agencies concerned, that people, especially those who are the closest to nature, the farmers and the lumads are the most precious among the gifts of the earth. Thus, their human rights and the environment must be protected, at all costs,” she said.
Librado said in most of the areas where there is heavy presence of military troops, protests against mining and logging activities continue like in the case of Compostela Valley and some parts of Davao Oriental where tribal people and farmers continue to protest against the operation of Agusan Petroleum and Minerals Corporation.
“In the spate of extra-judicial killings of environmental activists, the impunity of the current administration is alarming as 48 cases of extra-judicial killings against such activists happen under President Aquino’s leadership.”
“The link of intensified militarization in the countryside, especially in areas identified to have mining and other extractive ventures and expansions of plantations are highly probable. In Mindanao for instance, the deployment of 55 battalions of soldiers, mostly in the hinterlands portrays a looming martial law scenario in the countryside,” she said.
Librado said in Davao City, the position of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte against mining remains consistent and “that it is also acknowledged that we need more things to do in terms of mitigating the impact of climate change and protecting the environment.”
The politician said she is also supporting and has expressed her solidarity with the Dumalongdong Mindanaw, a Mindanao-wide gathering of lumads in Davao City.
Earth Day is the single biggest environmental celebration in the world participated by 150 countries, including the Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)
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