ON EARTH Day, rallies from youth, religious and Lumad showed us that the campaign to save our environment goes beyond gimmicks like switching off lights. The struggle is real and demands more action.

In San Carlos City, a human chain was formed by 7,000 church and young people to symbolize their opposition of the construction of a 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant in the city. The human chain stretched for 229 kilometers, covering 45 parishes of the San Carlos diocese.

Coal-fired power plants are deemed the dirtiest source of energy for its harmful effects on health.

The diocese hopes candidates will take a stand to preserve the environment. The proposed power plant is owned by SMC Holdings owned by Ramon Ang.

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The Earth Day rally staged by Manobo bakwits in Davao City should stir us about the importance of protecting their ancestral land of Pantaron Range.

The Pantaron Range is one of the few remaining frontiers and biodiversity remaining in the country. It can be said it is the only remaining frontier in Mindanao.

For the Manobos, Pantaron has been the source of their waters, their herbs, livelihood and even their sanctuary. For city dwellers, Pantaron is the source of Davao River, Talomo and Liboganon Rivers.

Nearly a thousand Talaingod Manobos have been driven out of their communities by militarization in years. They believe this is part of the military’s campaign to clear the way for investments.

President Duterte has announced he will be promoting palm oil and mining investments to ancestral lands. His Build Build Build program has built highways including roads connecting to Talaingod.

We have seen how mining and plantations erode the environment. What is at stake if investments come to Pantaron is our waters. We can’t live without water. The Lumad cannot live without their land.

Their struggle connects with us, as we live through their source of life and waters. Earth Day is about uniting to find ways to save our future, in which they are doing now.

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The thing with elections and the environment is that we recycle politicians who have no agenda in saving the planet.

But there is one senatorial candidates who have made clear of his stand. Makbayan’s Neri Colmenares, as a former representative of Bayan Muna, has filed bills to strike down the Philippine Mining Act which he says sells out our resources and patrimony.

Let us hope other candidates can come up with such clear agenda. Let us also dispose trapos and their tarpaulins and choose candidates that can save our planet.

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