KIANGAN, IFUGAO -- Indigenous people’s champion and environmentalist Teddy Baguilat Jr. bemoans the loss of life and damage to property brought about by Typhoon Maring that devastated the country’s northern provinces early this week, and calls for more legislation protecting the environment.
The former Ifugao governor and representative, who is running for a Senate seat in 2022, points out that climate change and deforestation has caused more destruction of life and property in northern Luzon due to the severe tropical storms that battered the area in recent months.
“Deforestation due to logging, mining, settlements, and unsustainable agricultural practices result in loss of forest cover, thus when rains come massive flooding happens. This is exactly what happened in Benguet, Pangasinan, La Union, and Cagayan due to Typhoon Maring,” Baguilat said.
Baguilat recommends more legislation to recognize the conservation and protection efforts of indigenous peoples and other upland dwellers, since upland areas are crucial to the mitigation of effects brought about by climate change.
“Upland areas are crucial to climate change mitigation. Take the case of flooding, since rainwater has nowhere to go but down, less trees means less resistance to the fall of water, which leads to massive flooding in the lowlands,” Bagulat said.
Legislation such as House Bill 115 or the Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Conserved Areas and Territories (ICCA) Act, introduced by Baguilat in 2016 during the 17th Congress, seeks an enabling law to recognize, protect, and strengthen ICCAs, acknowledge their contribution to biodiversity conservation and protection of key biodiversity areas by legalizing the effective traditional governance of IPs.
Baguilat, who is also president of the global ICCA Consortium, an international association dedicated to promoting the appropriate recognition of, and support to ICCAs, is committed to champion the ICCA Act and other laws that recognize traditional IP governance and protect the environment when he becomes Senator.
He also calls for a gradual decrease in mining activities in the Cordillera Administrative Region due to the destructive effects of said enterprises.
“While mining contributes to the income of our kailyans in the Cordilleras, its adverse effects outweigh the benefits. Examples of which are the landslides in Itogon a few years back that killed entire families, including many children,” Baguilat laments.
(To help victims of Typhoon Maring, the Cordillera Landing on You or CLOY, of which Baguilat is the lead convenor, is accepting donations. Those who want to help can visit the Cordillera Landing on You facebook page or text/viber 0917-861-0724 or 0917-326-5326.)
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