Proven environmentalist should head DENR

One of the best ways of judging the performance of presidents is to check on the calibre of men they appoint into power. Right now there is a vacancy in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and our only interest is that she appoints a person who has been committed to the preservation of the environment for a long time. A world problem today is global warming. Many people believe that the recent hurricanes and earthquakes the world has been experiencing is one of the outcomes of global warming. Metro Manila is one of the most polluted cities in the world and this affects the health of the millions of people who live in the metropolis.

We have many persons who have been concerned with the environment. One of the persons who has been involved with this question from the very start is former Senator and former Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Heherson Alvarez. We certainly hope that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo considers him as one of the candidates for the DENR office. We have always looked at Heherson Alvarez as one of the few statesmen we have in the country. We knew him personally when both he and I were being harassed by the Marcos government. The Marcos dictatorial regime was after him because he flatly refused to put his signature in the Marcos Constitution. He eluded arrest and I was able to smuggle him out of the country. But his family was persecuted and his brother was tortured and killed causing the death of his father and his mother almost lost her mind. But he continued leading the fight against the Marcos regime abroad and along with Ninoy, Raul Manglapus and Soc Rodrigo, succeeded in cutting US economic and military aid that eventually pressured Marcos to call for a snap election. The rest is history.

As an environmentalist, even the Coordinating Council of Muslim NGOs headed by Yusoph Muhammad has recommended his reappointment to the DENR with these words: "A religious advocate of environmental conservation whom the people can trust for the security of our tropical forests, watershed areas, coastal areas, and cleanliness of the air and sky. We have beliefs for his bravest principle to cut the interest of unscrupulous groups over our country’s natural resources."

Both the president of the League of Governors Enrico Aumentado and the National President of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines Mayor Ramon N. Guico Jr. have strongly recommended his reappointment to the DENR. We cannot think of a more qualified candidate for the position.