The governor of Negros Oriental has vowed to strengthen efforts to ban coal-fired power plants as he led government and private partners in the first-ever commemoration of the province’s Renewable Energy Day on Tuesday afternoon.
The occasion that advocates use of clean and renewable energy was held following Governor Roel Degamo’s issuance last December of Executive Order No. 22-18 declaring every 5th of March as Renewable Energy Day in the province.
Hopeful that the Renewable Energy Day will raise the people’s awareness on the importance of clean and renewable energy, Degamo stressed the need to further protect the environment and push for more advocacies along this line.
“I am strongly against coal because it is genuinely dirty. Relatively, fossil fuel emissions are also generally harmful to life and the environment,” the governor said in his message.
“In reality, your provincial government will focus more on sound policy development and decision-making strategies, and it really needs a lot of political will to do it. “It is along this line that we need to overcome greed with responsible, transparent, and accountable governance,” he added.
Degamo signed Executive Order No. 9 in March 2018 directing local government units in Negros Oriental not to issue permits and disallow the entry and operation of coal-fired and other fossil fuel-powered plants in their localities.
EO 9 also declared Negros Oriental as an environment-friendly and clean energy province committed to utilizing only clean and renewable energy sources such as geothermal, hydro, wind, and solar.
During the Renewable Energy Day held at the Lamberto Macias Sports and Cultural Center, the governor led partners from both government and the private sector in signing the “Pledge To Support Renewable Energy” printed on a large tarpaulin.
Part of the pledge says: “We believe that green, renewable energy is the only way our beloved province can preserve its wealth of natural resources while still being able to ride the waves of progress and modernization”.
It further read: “We hope that our Province serves as an example by which the entire Philippines can also secure a clean and stable energy future for all Filipinos”.
Miss Earth 2015 Angelia Ong, a Filipino, graced the occasion and also delivered her message to the youth-dominated crowd.
In an interview later, she told reporters that she wanted “to inspire young people to be greener and more sensitive about the environment because there is no other way that we can (prepare) for the future than to invest on education and the children as well”.
Ong recounted that when she became part of the Miss Earth Foundation and eventually won the Miss Earth crown in Vienna, Austria in 2015, her eyes were opened towards caring for the environment.
She spoke about the five Rs in environmental protection advocacy: Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Respect.
The most important for her, she said, is Respect because she believes that Mother Earth deserves all the respect that she can get from her inhabitants.
Meanwhile, Edwin Alcober, head of the Geothermal Resource, Sub-surface Group of the Energy Development Corporation (EDC), who was among the speakers/presentors during the celebration, lauded Degamo and the province of Negros Oriental for making a milestone in the twin declarations for a clean and environment-friendly province.
“I think that it is a laudable effort on the part of the governor. I’ve heard that Negros Oriental is the first province to declare (a) Renewable Energy Day and we are just happy to participate in it and EDC is a great partner of the province in terms of espousing renewable energy,” Alcober said.
He spoke on how people can participate in this endeavor to “decarbonize the economy and the source of energy in the future”. (Judy F. Partlow/PNA)
