MANILA, Philippines – Environment Secretary Gina Lopez called on the Commission on Appointments (CA) to consider the rights of Filipinos as they deliberate on her appointment on Wednesday, May 3.

“It is my sincere hope and aspiration that these gentlemen of the Commission on Appointments, in the midst of talking and discussing like that, that they put there, in their heart and soul, up there, the rights of our people to a clean and healthy environment, and let not their lives, their welfare, be sacrificed at the altar of some law which does not look after their needs,” Lopez said in a Facebook Live video taken after her confirmation hearing on Tuesday, May 2.

She said she may not be a lawyer, but she knows what’s right and wrong, and she knows that Filipinos should not suffer.

“I’m emotional about this as you can see. At the end of the day, I love you all, let’s see what happens,” she told her supporters.

Many of the questions during her confirmation hearing on Tuesday were about the controversial orders she’s made in her less than a year as environment secretary.

In a separate interview with reporters after the confirmation hearing, Lopez stressed that the Constitution is the “top law of the country,” and that it provides for “the right of every Filipino to a clean and health environment.” (READ: Mining Act ‘not enough’ basis for DENR order on mine stockpile – Sato)

“Open-pit mining, which will be there forever and a day, violates that constitutional act, so why are we so interested in all these other laws? How about the constitutional rights of our farmers, our fishermen to live in a clean and healthy environment? Why don’t we talk about that? We’re so worried about all the other laws,” she explained.

Lopez urged politicians who are “sitting in the halls of Congress and the halls of Senate to serve the people” to look at this constitutional right of every Filipino.

The CA committee on environment and natural resources terminated the confirmation hearing on Tuesday. Committee members will meet again on Wednesday morning, May 3, to deliberate on Lopez’s appointment. – Rappler.com