A Region in Transition

Thewhole month of March and April 2023 is filled with so many activities that are difficult to sort out – political, social, and of course religious. This is especially true in the parts of Region XII and in the BARMM. Almost all the plans a few years back are being reviewed to see how these fits into the future of the area and region.

The result is a motley of proposals that when put together at times contribute to a coherent overall plan; or may contradict each other when analyzed as to the impact on standard theories and beliefs. Thanks to the religious activities that are being implemented, the rush to put in place development changes is done at a slower pace, and more time is given to the assessment of each proposal.

Take as an example the education sector. Fixing the school calendar is a problem to school administrators, due to the unclear schedule of ending and opening of classes. My sympathy goes to those who makes the decision to suspend classes and reach the target graduation, because they also have to consider that these are not just notations on the calendar. The major consideration is if the students who are subjected to these changes have absorbed the lessons that the school should have imparted in preparation for the next level. If we get a generation who cannot read nor add and subtract, put the blame on confusing the students just to follow the dictates of those on top of the hierarchy. I wonder if Vice President Duterte have a clear view of the problems she is facing.

Another planning problem is the change that had to be made to conform to the wish that the Ligawasan Marsh be developed. Many people see the Marsh as full of potential as an ecosystem. The problem is when the ecosystem is disturbed, it causes disturbance on the ecology of its fringes. If the marsh is “drained”, where will the water in its river system go? The advent of floods is no longer debatable. This can be seen in the overflow of water in the Tunggol and Pagalungan area where the river current cause the erosion of riverbanks, and consequently the flooding of residential areas. Talk about Climate Change and its impact on ecosystems.

But the biggest problem we are experiencing is the aftermath of the Pandemic. After the ravages of COVID, businesses have closed down, employment has gone down, and new investments are slow in coming. The scenario that Muslim countries will course their investments in the BARMM area seem to be slow in coming. Well, these countries also have their own negative impact of the Pandemic. We just have to sit and wait a little longer.

Meanwhile, the regional government will have to make the preparations for the development scenario. It is not enough to give work for demilitarized persons. They must be trained on the work assigned to them, so they will not be employed as “flower pots” or traffic posts. MC

Thisis written as pro-environment activists and climate justice advocates are marching to Mendiola ahead of Earth Day 2023, which falls on April 22, to submit Climate Emergency Declaration Petitions to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The initiative led by the Rights of Nature PH, Philippine Movement for Climate Justice Philippine Misereor Partnership Inc., Caritas Philippines, Laudato Si’ Movement Pilipinas, Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates, and CEED - Center for Energy, Ecology and Development, aims to demand that the government declare a climate emergency.

In a statement released earlier this month, Caritas Philippines and the Social Action Network lamented that thirty-five years after the Catholic Church said in a 1988 pastoral letter that our country was in peril,

“we have not improved a bit.” According to the statement, sea levels rise in the Philippines three times than the world average while naturally rich ecosystems are being destroyed, typhoons though fewer now have become more devastating as our forests are steadily vanishing, and millions of Filipinos were drawn to deeper involuntary poverty due to climate effects annually. “We cannot be business as usual,” it said.

The unified pro-environment activists and climate justice advocates are calling for an end to fossil fuels and greenhouse gases emissions in the pursuit of a world below 1.5 degrees Celsius. Experts agree that continuous warming up of will have adverse impacts on water supply and food production, health and wellbeing, human settlements and infrastructure, and the ecosystem structure as a whole. And even as it impacts us right now, it also compromises a safe future for the coming generations. “A child born now is likely on average to have or experienced three to four times as many extreme climate events in their lifetime as their grandparents did,” said Mark Howden, a climate change professor at The Australian National University. “We’re actually leaving a world behind us that is actually less safe than the world which we inherited, people of my generation,” he said.

Despite being acknowledged as the dirtiest and most dangerous energy sources, fossil fuels continue to have the greatest share of electricity generated in the Philippines at more than 76 percent. Department of Energy data show that as of 2020, coal dominated the Philippine energy mix

Abdulraof Macacua of Maguindanao del Norte is practically waging peace to win over barriers to the other side of Maguindanao’s political fence.

Macacua disclosed in a press conference Monday that he had met Mayor Datu Tocao Mastura of Sultan Kudarat for the first time since last May elections when their political parties were split by choices of local candidates as well as national bets and alliances.

Over the weekend, Macacua led the ground-breaking of a P 15.5 worth public market building in Sultan Mastura, Maguindanao Norte. The town is another bailiwick of the Masturas, but is also a home-based to the family of Mayor Zulficar Panda M.D., who won the last May voting as a candidate of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s (MILF) United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP).

“In deference to Mayor Datu Tocao Mastura, we met together with Mayor Datu Samim Mastura who arranged the meeting on a weekend.” The meeting was cordial, Macacua said, and that it was also intended for the usual local coordination on implementation of programs and projects of common concerns.

Eva Kimpo - Tan, Editor-in-Chief

Edwin O. Fernandez, News Editor

Gemma A. Peñaflor, Administration and Marketing Executive

Julito P. Torres, Circulation Officer

Karl John B. Daniel, Graphic-Layout Artist

COTABATO CITY / ARMM CORRESPONDENTS

John M. Unson, Ferdinandh B. Cabrera, Charlie C. Señase

Nash B. Maulana

NORTH / SOUTH COTABATO CORRESPONDENTS

Williamor Magbanua, Romer “Bong” Sarmiento, Roel Osano & Drema Quitayen Bravo CARTOONIST

Lourd Jim Diazon

The officer in-charge governor appointed last April 3 by President Ferdinand Marcos, had earlier said he would reach out to politicians opposed to his appointment in the name reconciliation—“even on bended knees.”

Macacua said although he did not take the path of politics to become a politician, the Sinsuats are his relatives, their families being both from Kabuntalan: he also disclosed that he had met in a spirit of reconciliation with a political principal of the Sinsuat family.

Macacua said with all the potentials of his Maguindanao del Norte for economic development, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. wanted him to make the new province a prime capital and become a fast-growing province.

“The Polloc Port is there, the Bangsamoro Economic Zone Authority established by BARMM is there. In terms of security, the 6th Philippine Army Infantry Division is there, the Police Regional Office is there; they are all there to help us reach the goals of development and peace.” with a 57% share. The Philippine government recognizes the need to veer away from fossil fuels and transition to cleaner, safer. and renewable energy sources which abound in the country – the sun, wind, and water which emit little to no greenhouse gases or pollutants into the air. It passed the Renewable Energy Act, or Republic Act 9513, in December 2008 to help spur the development of affordable and cleaner energy sources and lessen the country’s high dependency on fossil fuels.

Temporarily holding office at Cotabato City, Macacua said his office administration will set up sub-offices in Kabuntalan town, and will even have a mobile office to effectively attend to the most pressing concerns of local governance.

But according to a March 31, 2023 report by the Philippine Center for Investigate Journalism, 14 years since the law was passed, coal – mostly imported thus expensive – continues to have the biggest share

In the country’s power mix. More alarming, from 30% in 2009, renewable energy sources now account for just 21% of the country’s power mix.

“Stakeholders blame the ‘dilly-dallying’ of the past administrations on the law’s piecemeal implementation as well as the problematic execution of some of its mechanisms. Environmental groups even had to file a case before the Supreme Court to push the Department of Energy to implement the other mechanisms of the Renewable Energy Law,” the PCIJ report said.

Can there be a decisive push for this on the part of key stakeholders among which are government, industries, and financial institutions? We sure hope so. Renewable energy advocates agree that the Renewable Energy Law provides adequate mechanisms to achieve this. But these need to be implemented seriously.

The call for the government to declare a climate emergency and put an end to fossil fuels and greenhouse gases emissions along with other key stakeholders is best heeded if we are to ensure a safer future for succeeding generations of Filipinos. Will they listen? When?

Organizing the province, Macacua said he was hopeful that all additional five members of the Provincial Board will be appointed soonest to form the needed legislative quorum and formulate the policy framework support to the province’s urgent development programs.

To recall, Mastura and Maguindanao Sur Governor Bai Mariam Sangki-Mangudadatu had pushed a Family Alliance, composed of the Sinsuats, Mangudadatus and the Masturas—some of Maguindanao’s politically powerful families— to support the party of then Presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for the May 9, 2022 national elections.

But after the elections Mr. Marcos, as President, came over to Cotabato on August 12 and swore in officials he had earlier appointed to the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Parliament, in an apparent gesture of political reconciliation, and commitment of support to the continuing peace process between the national government and the MILF.

Some local political analysts had even forecast that Marcos would replace members of the BTA Parliament with nominees of parties that supported his candidacy last May.

Still, others recalled that when Marcos replaced Auturo Tolentino as minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in December 1985, Tolentino delivered his usual fiery speech by which he adversely attacked Marcos.

However, in the turn of events in the following month, Marcos surprisingly took Tolentino as his vice-presidential running-mate for the snap presidential elections on February 7, 1986.

Marcos and Tolentino were declared winners under the 1973 Constitution by then Supreme Court Chief Justice Ramon Aquino. But events prior to the traditional inauguration were overturned by the ouster of Marcos by the Edsa People Power on February 25, 1986.