Green politics in the Philippines

Green politics in the Philippines is a concept initially proposed by the Philippine Greens, an environmentalist movement in the country. The party would be established when Green activists have managed to build organized mass constituencies and Philippine electoral processes have been sufficiently cleaned up.

From the Philippine Greens' perspective, the Green Party remains a concept that all Green-oriented groups and individuals can work towards. Currently no Philippine Green member occupies any official position. They have since decided to remain a green movement and not pursued direct green party building.

First parties

However, other groups outside the Philippine Greens have also indicated their intention to set up a Green Party in the Philippines. In the first party list elections in 2002, Green Philippines ran and lost. They have since been delisted.

Philippine Green Republican (PGRP) Party

In 2007, a national political party called the Philippine Green Republican Party was accredited with the Commission on Elections and fielded senatorial candidates but was declared nuisance candidates. In 2010, they again fielded national candidates and local candidates including a Presidential candidate, Mr. Felix Cantal. He, together with their senatorial candidates were declared nuisance candidates. Local candidates from PGRP were however able to run in local positions in 11 provinces nationwide. However, all these candidates lost.

Many serious environmentalist and greens believe after analyzing the political agenda of the Philippine Green Republican Party that they do not share the basic green principles and agenda to merit being considered a serious and legitimate national green political party. It is not clear whether the registration of PGRP as a national political party is still valid but they did not participate in the 2013 elections.

Green Force and Philippine Climate Leaders

Also in 2010, several party list candidates carried the green agenda in their declarations. Two of the more serious among these are the Green Force, organized by environmentalists from the ranks of the freemasons in the Philippines, and the PCL (Philippine Climate Leaders), who turned out to be officers of the Philippine Councillors League, carrying their acronym with a green twist. It is not certain to what extent then and now they have truly continued their green political organizing and advocacy.

Until the 2013 elections, both party list organizations were still accredited with the commission on elections (COMELEC). Green Force ran but lost, not getting sufficient votes to win them a sit in the party list elections for the lower house of congress. In 2010, PCL got 88,457 votes while Green Force got 44,100. In the 2013 elections, Green Force got a lower vote of 25,409. Green Force was de-listed and their registration cancelled by COMELEC in a decision dated 12 February 2015.

Kalikasan Party-list

For the 2013 May national and local elections, another green party list group filed their petition to be accredited. This is the KALIKASAN Party List (Green Party Philippines). KALIKASAN Party List emerge from the KPNE (Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment), a national network of grassroots peoples organization who are commonly associated and organize from the traditions and organizing of the extreme left (marxists-maoist tendencies).

Recently, the COMELEC delisted KALIKASAN as a Party List organization and disqualified it from running in the 2013 party list elections. COMELEC cited that these organizations were not able to prove sufficiently that they comply with the basic requisites of representing the marginalized sectors of Philippine society to be able to run in the Party List elections. It is uncertain now how the KALIKASAN Party List will proceed with its party building efforts.

See also

• Environmental issues in the Philippines
• Anti-nuclear movement in the Philippines
• List of political parties in the Philippines
• List of environmental organizations

References

External links