12 key environmental issues not mentioned in Duterte’s final SONA, according to group – Manila bulletin

The pro-environment activist group Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) said on Tuesday July 27 that there were 12 major omissions in President Duterte’s sixth and final State of the Nation Address (SONA) in this regard. which concerns environmental issues.

Problems not mentioned have been listed as follows:

1. At least 39,498 hectares (ha) of reclamation in Manila Bay and other coastal areas of the Philippines remain in place despite Duterte’s claims to halt corrupt reclamation projects. The figure includes an increase of 1,498 ha during Duterte’s tenure, which began in 2016.

2. 250 billion pesos, or 50 billion pesos per year over the past five years, is the estimated value of poached wildlife.

3. 33 billion pesos is the estimated annual loss due to coral damage in the Western Philippine Sea (WPS) from 2016 to 2019. The figure has skyrocketed to 1.3 trillion pesos per year by 2020.

4. There are 26 mine closures and suspensions to be overturned, as well as the opening of 26 new mining projects in 2021. In addition to this, there are 100 new mining applications filed in accordance with Duterte’s Executive Decree (EO) 130 .

5. A value of 1.1 trillion pesos of minerals was allegedly looted and shipped for the benefit of foreign markets, not the local economy.

6. The Philippines is ranked third in the world for air pollution-related deaths.

7. The Philippines is the second biggest polluter of marine plastics in the world.

8. The Philippines has moved from fifth to fourth place among the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries in the long term.

9. The country suffered 41 billion pesos in agricultural and infrastructural damage from Typhoons Rolly at Ulysses, which affected three million people. However, the aid affected only represented a third of the damage.

10. Four gigawatts of approved coal-fired power projects are still in the works despite declared moratorium on all-new coal projects

11. A total of 186 environmental defenders were killed from July 1, 2016 to December 30, 2020. Available data showed that for every defender killed, 124 others suffered other human rights violations.

12. These defenders represent 6.2 million hectares of landscapes and seascapes, and provide ecosystem services at an estimated value of 1.1 trillion pesos each year.

President Duterte delivered a nearly three-hour SONA on Monday, July 26 afternoon at the Batasang Pambansa complex in Quezon City.