OFF TO THE SEA FOR A CAUSE Fishers and environmentalists commemorate Earth Day on Friday by sailing from the shore of Batangas City to bring attention to the need to protect Verde Island Passage, a resource-rich body of water spanning Batangas, Marinduque, Romblon and the Mindoro provinces, which is threatened by natural gas exploration activities. 鈥擯HOTO FROM PROTECT ISLA VERDE PASSAGE GROUP FACEBOOK PAGE
LUCENA CITY 鈥� Fishers, religious groups, environmentalists and concerned citizens in Batangas province marked Earth Day on Friday with protest actions demanding government protection of Verde Island Passage (VIP).
In a statement, advocacy group Protect VIP said the protesters boarded 20 boats to stage a fluvial parade that started at 7 a.m. in Barangay Sta. Clara in Batangas City and sailed to a fossil gas project site in the village of Ilijan.
鈥淭he fluvial protest denounces plans to develop a whole fleet of new fossil gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities in Batangas City despite its proximity to an ecologically sensitive marine corridor known as the VIP,鈥� the group said.
Protect VIP is a network of civil society and faith-based groups, youth and community stakeholders united in the fight to preserve the marine and terrestrial zone of rich biological diversity spanning almost 2 hectares located more than 100 kilometers south of Manila.
VIP traverses through the provinces of Batangas, Marinduque, Romblon, Occidental Mindoro and Oriental Mindoro, which was recognized as the 鈥渃enter of global shorefish biodiversity鈥� due to the high densities of marine resources in the area.
鈥淭oday鈥檚 protest is a celebration of the rich biodiversity in the Verde Island Passage, yet also a lament for the certain destruction it would suffer should fossil gas and LNG projects in Batangas push through,鈥� said Fr. Edwin Gariguez, lead convener of the Protect VIP campaign network and social action director of the Apostolic Vicariate of Calapan, Oriental Mindoro.
鈥楨辫颈肠别苍迟别谤鈥�
The protesters described VIP as the 鈥渆picenter鈥� of fossil gas and LNG developments in the country, as eight of 27 proposed new plants and seven of the nine planned LNG terminals nationally are located in Batangas.
Gerry Arances, of the think tank Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development and a coconvener of Protect VIP, argued that fossil gas and LNG operations would create 鈥済reat disturbance in marine ecosystems, cause thermal pollution and emit greenhouse gas emissions that trigger worse climate change.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 a great wonder we are risking VIP and ignoring the climate emergency in exchange for an energy source that will only provide an unreliable and costly electricity supply,鈥� Arances said.
The protesters called on fossil gas proponents and financiers to 鈥渂ack off鈥� as they also urged upcoming leaders in national and local governments to protect VIP.
鈥淐ompanies and financial backers behind these projects should know that they are doing the people of Batangas and the Philippines no favor,鈥� Arances said.
Rich fishing ground
One of the Philippines鈥� richest fishing grounds, VIP teems with hundreds of species of fish, sea turtles, mangroves, seagrass, nudibranchs and corals that some described as 鈥渆xtremely rare.鈥�
The lives of over 2 million people from five provinces are inextricably connected to VIP, their main source of livelihood.
TJ Alcantara, a member of the Youth for VIP, said the younger generation understands that any development that places VIP in peril 鈥渁lso threatens our chance to live in a secure and sustainable future.鈥�
鈥淥ur survival is at risk, and this demands that we stand up for VIP,鈥� he stressed.
Alcantara asked voters in the coming local and national elections to use their political exercise 鈥渢o ensure that this marine ecosystem and the communities thriving around it will be protected.鈥�
鈥淲e hope our leaders in government will also prioritize VIP and exert their utmost effort to protect it from fossil gas and LNG,鈥� Alcantara said.
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