BUKIDNON ONLINE | BUKIDNON NEWS | MANOLO FORTICH NEWS | POLITICS – A group led by a certain Haleem Allan Baña has issued a manifesto of support for former Bukidnon First District Congressman and losing Liberal Party senatorial candidate Juan Romeo Nereus Acosta. This manifesto of support for Neric Acosta, which the group sent via email to BukidnonOnline.com, is in relation to his alleged appointment as Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary. Reportedly, Acosta is being eyed as the next DENR Secretary.

Just a few days ago, open letters and full page ads in national broadsheets were published about Acosta’s pending cases before the Sandiganbayan. Then, one of the Acosta family’s longtime political rival, Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, spoke before the Senate and urged President Benigno Aquino III to not appoint individuals who have court cases, among others. Zubiri said that in keeping with Aquino’s “Daang Matuwid” program, cabinet appointees must have proven competence, unsullied integrity, unquestionable honesty and must not currently face charges. Read Senator Zubiri’s privilege speech here. This prompted Acosta to release a statement on the alleged smear campaign against him.

Now, the group led by Baña, which they call “Mindanao Coalition for Neric Acosta” has released a manifesto of support. The text is published below verbatim:

Manifesto of Support for Dr. Neric Acosta

To the Filipino People,
To President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III,

The scientific community has already reached a near-universal consensus that climate
change is real, that it’s primarily caused by human activity and it’s happening faster than
anyone could have foreseen. We’re seeing its effects all around us – more intense heat
waves that disproportionately affect us, more severe storms that wreak havoc on homes
and communities, and all kinds of changing cycles in the natural world. Although, as a
nation, our contribution to the total global carbon emission that causes global warming
is almost negligible, our share in it’s after effects in the form of calamities is enormous.
We are all witnesses to these in recent years. The urgency to act therefore may be
increasing faster than most of us had anticipated.

Because of this, we believed that we are on a critical juncture in our history wherein we
need to quickly adopt earth-friendly policies to mitigate the effects of climate change,
identify environmental limits, regulate the usage of our precious resources and design
economic policies that will work within them. We are also in dire need for earth-friendly
leaders who are passionate enough to implement those policies. Leaders who are
looking at nature not as a mere source of profit, but as a precious gift. Not as a mere
instrument to support life — but as life itself.

It is on behalf of this urgency that we decided to give voice to this manifesto, united
by a convergence of hopes, intentions and wills. We want that our manifesto to be
understood as an appeal to the Filipino people and to President Benigno Simeon Aquino
III to appoint the world-famous environmentalist Dr. Neric Acosta as the next Secretary
of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

We do believe that he can give justice to this position as he has ably proven himself as
a true ally of nature. He possesses not only the necessary expertise required for this
position but has already proven his case with his unwavering and consistent espousal
of earth-friendly advocacies through the years. Moreover, he is not all talk, but a rock
solid contributor to the cause he embraced by backing them up with action through his
sponsorship of pro-ecology legislations while he was still in congress. His numerous
lectures on ecology and its related issues had inspired confidence in us and led us to
believe that we can still do something in our struggle to have a livable planet in spite of
the unbridled exploitation of its resources in the name of development.

It is therefore our fervent belief that his talents will not be wasted if it culminates with
his appointment as the next DENR Secretary of the Republic of the Philippines. We
wholeheartedly support this manifesto and we are hopeful that the Filipino people will
join us and our beloved President will heed our appeal.

Haleem Allan Baña
Mindanao Coalition for Neric Acosta

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