Greenpeace decks Manila City Hall with demand for RE Bill passage

As the international climate conference in Bali, Indonesia nears conclusion, Greenpeace volunteers today scaled historic Manila City Hall to hang a gigantic banner with the message “Time to Save the Climate. Pass the Renewable Energy Bill Now!,” warning that failure to act could spell doom for some parts of the capital which would be submerged by increasing sea levels.

“We call on the Philippine government to move swiftly from rhetoric to action by enacting concrete solutions to help solve the global problem of climate change. We also enjoin local governments such as Manila, along with Filipino citizens, to join the groundswell of global opinion demanding urgent action to stop this environmental threat, and push for the bill’s speedy enactment,” said Greenpeace Southeast Asia spokesperson Lea Guerrero.

The Philippines is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, including extreme weather events and sea level rise. A recent study by development organization Germanwatch has placed the Philippines as the country most affected by climate change in 2006, due to extreme weather disasters. In an earlier study entitled “The Philippines: A Climate Hotspot,” Greenpeace stated that a partial and conservative projection of a one-meter rise in sea level is projected to inundate the country’s coastlines, covering an area of almost 700 million square meters. Among the coastal areas vulnerable to sea level rise is the country’s capital, Manila, parts of which are already sinking due to subsidence.

Greenpeace has been repeatedly calling on the Philippine government to fast-track the passage of the Renewable Energy (RE) Bill which, once enacted, will catalyze the shift away from the country’s dependency on fossil fuels and pave the path for the massive uptake of renewable energy to help stop climate change.

However, despite official statements constantly affirming the prioritization of the bill, the government has been remiss in ensuring that the RE Bill’s passage is expedited. Last year, the 13th Congress failed to take the opportunity to enact the crucial bill into law. Committee hearings on the RE Bill in the House of Representatives only started last month. In the Senate, the first RE Bill proceeding is expected to start only today. The Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meeting earlier this week also failed to identify the RE Bill as priority legislation despite the government’s subsequent statement in the Bali meeting that the government will soon enact an RE Law.

“In a hundred years the area where Manila City Hall is currently standing could be flooded with seawater, along with Roxas Boulevard and Luneta Park. This can also happen to a thousand other municipalities around the country if little or no action is done to address climate change. The worsening impacts of climate change now being felt with alarming intensity and increasing regularity are telling us that there is no time to lose. In the country’s projected long-term struggle against climate change, the immediate passage of the RE Bill is the first important step,” said Guerrero.

While the major responsibility for stopping climate change rests on the industrialized countries to cut back on their greenhouse gas emissions now, it is equally important that developing countries like the Philippines avoid the mistakes made by the west in building these climate killing and dirty energy sources. Investments in renewable energy systems are envisioned to liberate the country from the treadmill of dirty energy production and use.

Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organization that acts to change attitudes and behavior, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace.

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Breast Feeding

President Gloria Macapagala-Arroyo delivers her speech during the “Orientation on Infant and Young Child Feeding for Medical Directors and Chiefs of Hospitals” with the theme “The Breastfeeding Highway Begins at the Hospital” Monday (December 17) at Maynila Ballroom of the Manila Hotel along Roxas Boulevard in Manila. The orientation was highlighted by presentations on current national policies and programs related to infant and young child feeding, latest scientific evidences on breastfeeding and appropriate complementary feeding within the hospital setting as key strategy to child survival, and ways to implement the Mother-Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative. With the President in photo are (seated from left) Dr. Nicholas Alipui, representative of the UNICEF; Dr. Soe Nyunt-U, representative for the Philippines- World Health Organization; Health Secretary Francisco Duque III; and Ms. Maria-Bernardita Flores, Executive Director of the National Nutrition Council. (MARCELINO PASCUA/OPS-NIB)

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Roxas disappointed over delay in passage of affordable medicines bill

Senator Mar Roxas said he was disappointed that the House has failed to pass before Christmas a bill to lower local prices of medicines, despite assurances to do so in the previous Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council meeting.

“Ikinalulungkot ko na hindi ito maisasabatas bago pa ang Pasko. Kahit ipasa man ito sa House ngayon o bukas, hindi na ito makaka-bicam at mara-ratify bago mag-break. Huli na masyado,” Roxas, sponsor of SB 1658 or the Quality Affordable Medicines bill, which was passed on final reading at the Senate last November 5, lamented.

“By the time Congress reconvenes, it will be another month. Sana maaga itong naipasa sa mababang kapulungan para naisabatas bago ng Pasko,” he added.

Despite the setback, the Senate Trade Committee Chairman said, “Ngunit ang mahalaga ay maipasa pa rin ito. Mas maganda sana before Christmas, pero kung after Christmas, okey na rin, basta maipasa natin ito.”

As of early afternoon, the House of Representatives has not passed its counterpart to Roxas’ bill, despite an initial commitment at the start of the 14th Congress last July to pass the bill in 45 days. When this was not accomplished, the House targeted the bill’s passage and bicameral approval before Christmas.

The Liberal Party President also noted how Congress also had to deal with bicameral talks for the 2008 budget. The Quality Affordable Medicines bill had been certified by the President as urgent in the last Congress and in the 14th Congress, and was named a priority measure during the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council last December 11.

The measure has been Roxas’ major advocacy even during his time as Trade Secretary, when he negotiated for trade concessions to be granted to developing countries under the Trade Related Intellectual Property System (TRIPS) international agreement. First among SB 1658’s provisions are the proposed amendments to the Intellectual Property Code which seek to allow the parallel importation of locally patented drugs and to allow generic manufacturers to test, register, produce patented drugs prior to patent expiry, among others.

The bill also recommends strengthening the Bureau of Food and Drug to serve as a counterfoil to attempts to bring in fake or substandard medicines by allowing BFAD to retain its operating income from fees and other charges so it could upgrade its facilities and beef up its human resources.

The bill also contains provisions allowing the President to impose drug price ceilings in times of calamity, public health emergencies, events that cause artificial and unreasonable price hikes, the prevalence of illegal price manipulation and whenever prevailing prices have risen to unreasonable levels.

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