A MULTI-SECTORAL group in Misamis Oriental crafted a Green Agenda of Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental for the May 2010 elections with a 20-point environment positions and demands on the most pressing environment positions.
The group, led by the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center-Kasama sa Kalikasan/Friends of the Earth-Philippines with the Alternative Law Groups, said the green platform would be a concrete environment position even beyond the May 2010 election.
This, as the groups recognized the poor, particularly workers, farmers, fisherfolk, women, children and indigenous peoples, are especially vulnerable to the effects of environmental degradation.
The group said part of the 20-point agenda are the enactment of a Coastal Resource Management Ordinance and the enactment of the Environment Code of Misamis Oriental and Cagayan de Oro, which was launched on March 24 and endorsed by Representative Rufus Rodriguez.
The Code hopes to provide the over-arching framework and guidelines for the protection of the city and province’s environment and natural resources.
Included in the agenda is the enactment of the Misamis Oriental Water Code that would ensure protection of the city and province’s freshwater as well as a clean and safe water for all and the enactment of a Rainwater Harvesting Ordinance, noting that the rain is a freshwater resource that should be maximized to reduce depletion of ground water, improve the quality of ground water and to arrest seawater intrusion.
Also included are the strict implementation of waste segregation in Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental and the implementation of a Comprehensive Drainage System to avoid flooding, which the group said is a common nuisance experienced by both upland and downtown communities.
Also identified in the 20-point environment agenda are the implementation of the Clean Water Act or Republic Act 9275; the enactment of a Coastal Resource Management Ordinance; support to the Cagayan de Oro Watershed Bill and come up with a Misamis Oriental Watershed parallel bill; support to organic agriculture and farmers; support to the expansion of diversified farms and non-monoculture farms; implementation of vegetative buffer zones around plantations; protection of the forest lands in Misamis Oriental; relocation of communities in hazard-prone areas; implementation of the Clean Air Act and the Anti-Smoke Belching Ordinance; help contain global warming; enactment of the Ban Aerial Spraying Ordinance; develop and institutionalize a comprehensive environmental health program for Misamis Oriental/Cagayan de Oro City; respect the rights of Indigenous and Moro Peoples; promotion of good governance and active partnership between government and civil society groups; and promotion of community-based management of resources.
The group said they vow to pursue these environment agenda in the May elections and beyond. (TDCB)