Sunday, April 15, 2007 Cariño: On the way to the (green) forum By Linda Grace Cariño Paradigm Shift
TOMORROW, Monday, the 16th, is the day when concerned Baguio City-zens troop to the Convention Center for the election season's "green show." Slated from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. is a forum for electoral candidates to interact with voters on environmental issues.
Convening this forum is the Green Electoral Initiative, Baguio-Benguet Chapter. It is a group of organizations and individuals working for the protection and care of the environment of Baguio and surrounding areas.
Among them: the Maryknoll Ecological Sanctuary, the Igorota Foundation, the Baguio Cathedral Diocesian Social Action Center, The Wright Stuff Media, various parish groups, and others. Their objective: to dialogue with Baguio's mayoral and congressional candidates on "green" issues so that voters may know where candidates stand on pressing questions that face the city as regards air pollution, logging, mining, solid waste management, water. These issues have local faces, and the forum is expected to deal with these local translations.
Proceedings are designed to give each party representative five minutes to present their respective party platforms for the environment. After the presentations, an open forum will follow, where questions will be fielded from the floor for the candidates/their representatives to answer. Keynote speaker will be Bishop Carlito J. Cenzon.
The Green Electoral Initiative was convened because of a common concern for the Cordilleras as a valuable bioregion that must be protected if it is to sustain itself for the present and the future use of generations, ourselves included. The public is encouraged to participate in this event and enjoined to: Think globally, act locally.
