{"id":9906,"date":"2020-07-28T12:40:11","date_gmt":"2020-07-28T04:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/?p=9906"},"modified":"2021-08-04T17:53:19","modified_gmt":"2021-08-04T09:53:19","slug":"greenpeace-reactive-on-dutertes-sona-no-mention-of-coherent-policy-agenda-for-recovery-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/press\/9906\/greenpeace-reactive-on-dutertes-sona-no-mention-of-coherent-policy-agenda-for-recovery-and-beyond\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenpeace reactive on Duterte\u2019s SONA: \u2018No mention of coherent policy agenda for recovery and beyond\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Quezon City<\/strong><\/em>\u2014Following President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s fifth State of the Nation Address, Greenpeace Country Director Lea Guerrero said:<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe President\u2019s SONA was disappointing, to say the least. At this time during the pandemic, what the Filipino people, particularly the youth, need is a clear plan for a recovery after this pandemic that will lead us to a better normal. However, we didn\u2019t hear any mention of a coherent policy agenda for recovery and beyond, particularly as it concerns the environment.<\/p>\n\n

The President said in his speech that protecting the environment is a non-negotiable priority. However, we have yet to see this in actual practice in the past four years, as well as in the commitments he announced during today\u2019s SONA. Only two things stood out: 1) the establishment of the Department of Disaster Recovery\u2014should this be pursued we believe responding proactively to the climate crisis must be the central agenda of this agency; and 2) the mention of localization as part of recovery from the economic impacts of the pandemic\u2014however, we believe that the revitalization of provinces outside Metro Manila should be focused on promoting small and local businesses, rather than promoting special economic zones that do not serve local communities.<\/p>\n\n

The COVID pandemic is happening against a backdrop of environmental destruction and the climate crisis that has been going on long before this pandemic, and\u2014unless things change for the better\u2014will persist and worsen well into the future. The lack of any concrete plans on addressing climate is reflective of the admin\u2019s narrow environmental agenda, which is still holding up the Boracay clean-up\u2014a drastic military solution devoid of any stakeholder consultation\u2014as a showcase of its environmental programs.<\/p>\n\n

A coherent post-COVID recovery agenda should have clear plans for future-proofing the country against other crises. Protecting the environment\u2014phasing out coal plants and aiming for 100% RE, weaning the country away from fossil fuel transport, addressing the waste crisis at root through plastic and waste importation bans, among others\u2014leads to positive health outcomes that will make the country resilient against future pandemics.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cAlongside all this, the government needs to realize that protecting the environment also means protecting the rights of people and communities–their right to life, health, livelihood, and the right of present and future generations to a healthy environment and a stable climate. We repeat our calls for the government to put people at the center of planning and decision making, and to promote people participation, instead of silencing criticism and dissent, in order to achieve a \u201cbetter normal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

###<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Note to editors:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

[1] Prior to the SONA, the Better Normal Youth Movement, supported by Greenpeace, issued a declaration addressed to the President. Read the full declaration here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

[2] Aerial shots of SONA protests here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Media contact:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Angeli Cantillana, Communications Campaigner, Greenpeace Southeast Asia – Philippines<\/p>\n\n

angeli.cantillana@greenpeace.org<\/a> | +63 998 595 9733<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The COVID pandemic is happening against a backdrop of environmental destruction and the climate crisis that has been going on long before this pandemic, and\u2014unless things change for the better\u2014will persist and worsen well into the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":9907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"not set","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6,24,25],"p4-page-type":[14],"class_list":["post-9906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society","tag-climate","tag-activism","tag-democracy","p4-page-type-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9906"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10766,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9906\/revisions\/10766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9906"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=9906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}