MANILA, Philippines – Vice President Jejomar Binay said that if he is elected president, he would break the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) into two offices to help address climate change and boost agricultural productivity.

The United Nationalist Alliance standard-bearer bared the plan at the 9th Biennial National Convention of the Chinese Filipino Business Club, Incorporated at the Manila Hotel on Friday, February 19.

“‘Yung DENR, bibiyakin ko ho ‘yun e. Kasi talagang problema na ho ang environment e. Kaya kailangan magkaroon ng isang department [para doon lang] (I am going to split up the DENR because the environment is really a problem. We need separate department for it),” Binay said.

“Anything on natural resources, I will give it to the Department of Natural Resources para ‘yung [Department on Envrionment] then ay magconcentrate na lang sa environment (so the Department of Environment will only concentrate on environment matters),” he added.

There is already a pending bill in the House of Representatives to split the DENR into the Department of Environment and Department of Natural Resources, House Bill 6317 authored by Ako Bicol party list Representative Rodel Batocabe.

During the open forum after his speech, Binay said he would also collaborate with experts to retrofit infrastructure projects like dams to “prevent flooding and damage to properties and life.”

His other plans to help address climate change include the following:

• Review the system of disaster management up to the barangay level, particularly warning and prepositioning of relief goods
• Emphasize the use of renewable energy and implement the Renewable Energy Act of 2008, specifically hydro power as a cheap alternative
• Collaborate for capacity building, establishing early warning systems, updating building codes, and urban planning
• Use multi-sectoral partnerships in providing disaster-resilient housing
• Create jobs in rural areas to reduce informal settlers in disaster-prone urban sites
• Strictly implement laws on land use, and the plan to relocate informal settler families from danger zones
• Strictly enforce rules requiring developers to show clearances from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau before starting housing projects near waterways (READ: The Leader I Want: Jejomar Binay’s to-fix list for 2016)

The Vice President, who leads in the latest Social Weather Stations survey despite a dip in his rating, said he wants to implement disaster risk reduction and management, and climate change laws at the local level as well, to mitigate disasters.

Binay had earlier proposed to split the Department of Transportation and Communications into two offfices to address the country’s longstanding traffic problem.

Boost agriculture

Binay indicated that his proposal would mean moving certain functions of the Department of Agriculture to his envisioned Department of Natural Resources. He believes this would help improve the agricultural sector. (READ: Binay presents plans for ‘1st 100 days as president’)

“‘Yung natural resources pinatitingnan ko doon sa bahagi ng Department of Agriculture. Ang laki-laki ng Department of Agriculture e. ‘Yung bahagi of natural resources, ibibigay na rin doon sa Department of Natural Resources,” said Binay in an interview with reporters after the event.

(The scope of the Department of Agriculture is too big. The natural resourcees component would be transferred to the Department of Natural Resources.) 

While he did not further elaborate during the interview, Binay reiterated in his speech that he wants to “modernize” agriculture if he is elected president. 

“Ang liit po ng contribution ng agriculture sa GDP (gross domestic product) natin, so it’s a good challenge. Kapag naitaas mo, then it is already a legacy,” he said.

(Agriculture has a small contribution to our gross domestic product, so it’s a good challenge. If you are able to raise that, then it is already a legacy.)

The Philippine Statistics Authority said that the agriculture sector, battered by El Niño,  contracted by 0.3% in 2015.

Binay also hit the Aquino administration anew over the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms Law.

“What was that concept for? The concept was to make those lands productive and [make] a Filipino [farmer] to be an owner of the land. Very good. The concept was good, but the implementation was wrong,” said Binay, whose platform is focused on pro-poor governance and inclusive growth.

He said that farmer-beneficiaries end up selling their land because they are unable to pay for the expensive fertilizer and equipment they need as well as the required irrigation fee.

“Ang malaking kasalanan dun is the government failed to comply with the second part of the program, and that is subsidizing the needs of the tenant (The biggest sin there is that the government failed to comply with the second part of the program, and that is subsidizing the needs of the tenant),” added Binay.

He then vowed to remove the irrigation fee on farmers and to encourage the planting of more high-yielding crops to help farmers while increasing exports. Binay noted that at present, the Philippine agriculture are only on coconut, rice and corn.

“Ang dami-dami ho nating lupa na nakatiwangwang pa (We have a lot of idle land),” Binay said. – Rappler.com