MANILA — Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda had one simple message during yesterday’s Plastic-Free Future Youth Forum held at the Quezon City hall: “Let us turn off the plastic faucet.”
This call was immediately seconded by Climate Change Commission (CCC) vice chairperson Robert E.A. Borje and Commissioner Rachel Ann Herrera, saying the Commission’s mandate of formulating policies that strongly support the Marcos administration’s thrust in fulfillment of PH’s commitment to the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Early in his presidency, President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. had expressed his decision to prioritize immediate climate action to save the environment and preserve a resilient future for the coming generations of Filipinos.
Senator Legarda delivered her speech as she attended the Quezon City forum via virtual conferencing while Secretary Borje and Commissioner Herrera gave their full support by bringing in a CCC delegation and sharing inputs on the Commission’s commitment to climate action, particularly the initiative against single-use plastics (SUPs) and the promotion of a circular economy for sustainable development and resiliency.
Also, present in the activity were Quezon City Vice Mayor Gian Carlo Sotto and representatives from Greenpeace Philippines, the Kabataan party-list and environmental and youth groups, and other city officials.
Sec. Borje recognized that issues on climate change include the production and use of plastics, especially single-use plastics that eventually aggravate the garbage situation and pollution in the country.
“Considering its negative impacts on the environment and human health, everyone must understand what needs to be done to effectively reduce, and ultimately, to eliminate these plastics,” he stressed.
For her part, Comm. Herrera cited that Sen. Legarda’s Senate Bill 246, or the ‘Single-Use Plastics Regulation and Management Act of 2022’, will not only lead to the phase-out and eventual ban of SUPs in the country but also support the development and use of more eco-friendly packaging.
“This legislation, when implemented through a whole-of-nation approach, will give us a fighting chance to achieve the 1.5 survival limit as found by the scientific community,” she concluded.
(Amado Inigo/MTVN)
