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[av_heading heading=’Anti-mining lawyers hit ‘political promises’ ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY JOHN HEREDIA
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ROXAS City – Esteban Evan Contreras vowed that no mining activity will happen in Capiz as long as he is the vice governor.
Apparently, this is not enough. The Capiz Lawyers for the Environment (CLE) dismissed this as nothing more than a “political promise.”
“Is he going to be the vice governor [in the next] 50 years,” asked Roy Villa, a CLE founding member.
“People don’t need political promises,” said Villa. Environmental problems are “intergenerational,” and “what we need is concrete action.”
The CLE, along with the Capiz Environmental Protection Alliance (CEPA) and the Madia-as Ecological Movement, is pushing for the reinstatement of the 50-year mining moratorium in the province.
Provincial Ordinance (PO) No. 9 series of 2016, which the SangguniangPanlalawigan (SP) passed days after the elections in May, lifted the moratorium.
Contreras, being the vice governor, is the SP’s presiding officer.
“If he (Contreras) is really sincere in protecting our environment and the future of our children, he should work for the reinstatement of the moratorium,” said another CLE member, MaritesdelaPieza-Layo.
“Political promises,” said Layo, have “no value at all.”
The CLE also wanted the Mining Act of 1995 scrapped. Villa said the law “liberalized and deregulated the Philippine mining industry.”
“He (Contreras) cannot wash his hands,” the CLE said. “He was the presiding officer when they passed PO No. 9.”
Aside from Villa and Layo, other CLE members include Cheryl Villa, LeobethDeslate-Delicana, Paul Ivan Baticados, Enrico Delgado Jr., retired judge Juliana Azaraga, Roxas City councilor Gary Potato, and CriseldaAzarcon-Heredia./PN
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