Kalikasan People’s Network demands full reparations for the Philippines, citing historical emissions and government failures in the wake of deadly storms.
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – “The United States and other Global North nations should pay their full climate debt.”
This is the demand of environmental group Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment after the United Nations Philippines has launched the Humanitarian Needs and Priorities (HNP) Plan that aims to support about 210,000 people in northern and southern Luzon.
This came after a series of typhoons ravaged several provinces particularly regions of Bicol, Calabarzon and Cagayan Valley. The UN hopes to raise US$32.9 million to deliver aid to communities affected.
Kalikasan said the HNP “is a slap in the face to millions of Filipinos suffering from these record-breaking climate disasters.”
“The true cost of agricultural and infrastructural losses from typhoons Carina, Kristine and Leon stands at a staggering $446 million, a figure that continues to rise as more storms batter our nation. This vast discrepancy reveals the UN’s inability to provide substantial finance if not complicity in downplaying the scale of the crisis,” the group said in a statement.
Kalikasan asserted that the US, as the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases in history, has the primary responsibility for the climate catastrophe battering the country.
“The cumulative CO2 emissions of the US from 1850 to 2021 total 509 billion tonnes, far outstripping any other country. This carbon colonialism has turned our seas into typhoon breeding grounds, with ocean temperatures rising at an alarming 0.13°C per decade since 1901, fueling the unprecedented storm activity we’re witnessing today,” Kalikasan said.
Kalikasan reiterated that the US and other Global North countries should pay full climate debt, starting with an annual contribution of $100 billion in reparations to the Philippines.
The group added that Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is a willing accomplice to environmental destruction, adding that while the government boasts of 5,500 completed flood control projects, communities are repeatedly devastated by typhoons.
“Every typhoon exposes the lie of ‘preparedness’ as communities are repeatedly devastated, with the current cluster of storms highlighting the regime’s utter failure to address the escalating climate crisis,” Kalikasan said.
“The regime’s collusion with corporate interests has accelerated the destruction of critical watersheds. Government-permitted mining operations have ravaged 100,000 hectares of land, while reclamation projects threaten to displace over 11 million people in Manila Bay alone, exacerbating our vulnerability to these intensifying storms,” the group added.
‘Stop destructive projects’
Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) attributed the massive flooding and destruction in Cagayan Valley to the destructive projects in the province.
The group cited the NDRRMC situation report saying at least 42 municipalities were flooded in Cagayan due to typhoon Marce. Combined effects of typhoons Nika and Ofel led to massive flooding in 169 municipalities across Cagayan region.
The group said this comes while many residents are still reeling from the effects of typhoon Leon, with extensive rain and storm surges devastating the coastal towns of Sta. Ana, Gonzaga, and Aparri.
The group cited the large-scale magnetite iron mining operations by JDVC Resources Corporation, a subsidiary of Apollo Global Capital Inc., which it said, have exacerbated the vulnerability of Cagayan Valley’s coastal communities.
JDVC focuses primarily on magnetite mining covering 1,902.59 hectares located 14 kilometers offshore from the municipality of Gonzaga in Cagayan. KMP said its operation has been ongoing since 2010 and has “removed natural sea barriers and worsened storm surges that destroyed light-material homes and fishing boats during the onslaught of typhoons.”
The group said in northeastern Cagayan quarry operations by corporations and local officials have stripped the landscape, leaving communities without adequate flood protection.
“Key rivers like the Alucao, Mission, and Pateng overflowed, submerging towns such as Sta. Teresita, Buguey, and Gonzaga. These rivers serve as sources of sand and gravel for Cagayan’s infrastructure projects, controlled by DDT Konstract Inc. and DATAJ Aquafarm Inc., companies allegedly linked to influential figures such as Danilo Tamayo and Mayor Marilyn Pentecostes of Gonzaga,” the group added.
There is also monocrop farming of cash crops, like yellow corn, that has exacerbated deforestation and weakened soil resilience, leading to increased landslides and reduced water retention, KMP said.
They added that the use of highly-hazardous pesticide glyphosate has degraded the land, depriving it of its ability to hold rainwater and reducing Cagayan Valley’s capacity to withstand the impact of typhoons.
KMP Chairperson and Makabayan senatorial candidate, Danilo Ramos, challenged Marcos Jr. to halt destructive mining, logging, and quarrying projects across Cagayan Valley.
“These ventures are profiteering at the cost of environmental safety and local livelihoods. The administration’s superficial response of distributing aid to Cagayan cannot mask the failures and complicity of government and corporate forces behind the environmental destruction of Cagayan Valley,” Ramos said in a statement.
“The people of Cagayan demand immediate action to protect their homes, rivers, and farmlands from exploitative projects. Genuine solutions to the region’s environmental crisis require a halt on the exploitative mining and quarrying operations and a thorough review of policies that favor profit over people’s safety,” Ramos added.
He stressed that relief operations are just stopgap measures. “The region needs lasting, sustainable solutions that prioritize the well-being and safety of all Cagayanos,” says Ramos.
‘Decisive and systematic government response’
The recent typhoons also ravaged agriculture and livelihood as well as disruptions in employment and education in the Cordillera region, the Cordillera People’s Alliance said.
The group said that the province of Apayao and the municipality of Paracelis in Mt. Province has already declared a state of calamity due to the series of typhoons.
Its peasant affiliate organization Aliansa dagiti Pesante iti Kordiliera (APIT TAKO, Alliance of Peasants in the Cordillera) released photos of typhoon-damaged crops taken by their members on the ground.
“Our municipal chapter in Itogon has reported that small-scale miners are largely affected since they cannot enter their pocket mines at times of strong winds and rainfall. Across the country, affected communities salvage what they can as they go through floods, landslides, and other impending disasters,” the group added.
The group said they join the public in calling for a decisive and systematic government response.
“Enough with glorifying the Filipino resilience to cover-up state neglect. Our people-led relief operations and community values of helping each other, while noble and true, will not be enough to ensure our welfare in the long run,” the group said in a statement.
They added that it is time to call for just compensation and comprehensive, pro-people climate adaptation and mitigation programs, instead of capitalist-driven mining and renewable energy projects disguised as development.
“Typhoons now are proven to be stronger and deadlier due to the warming of the Earth, as proven by recent studies, and exploited nations like the Philippines are most vulnerable to this crisis. While imperialist nations who remain to be the top polluters of the world continue with their wars, militarism, and extractivism, its global impacts hit us down to our very guts, evidenced by our experiences in an extraordinary time of a tropical storms marathon. For Cordillera peoples, this will only worsen if corporate takeovers and hundreds of large-scale mining and renewable energy projects are approved or implemented,” the group said.
Kalikasan and CPA both said that people should also demand justice and accountability from the imperialist nations.
“Their inhumane and anarchic thirst for profit and power are killing the planet and the vulnerable beings that live in it. This is reflected at the UN Climate Summit in Baku, Azerbaijan (COP29) happening at the moment. The COP has become a mere corporate talk, a session for investment deals disguised as ‘climate finance’, despite the concerted efforts of participating marginalized sectors to drumbeat their calls for climate justice,” CPA said.
“As we face this unprecedented barrage of storms, the time for half-measures and empty promises is over. The Filipino people demand immediate and comprehensive climate justice now!” the group said. (RVO)
