Environmentalists back possible next DENR chief

A group of environmentalists has expressed support for Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate, who is reportedly being eyed by the administration of incoming president Rodrigo Duterte as secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources ( DENR).

The Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment said Zarate, who is a lawyer from Davao City, has fought for the rights of displaced farmers, indigenous people and illegally detained political prisoners.

Zarate is reportedly the choice of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines ( NDFP) for the top DENR post.

Zarate was lawyering for human rights victims in Mindanao before Bayan Muna nominated him as one of its two representatives in Congress.

He will sit in the incoming 17th Congress as first nominee of Bayan Muna. The party- list group won only one seat in the House of Representatives in the last elections.

Zarate and his six other colleagues in the Makabayan bloc belong to the minority in the House of Representatives.

During his first term as congressman, Zarate contributed to his party’s distinction as among the most productive in terms of number of legislative measures filed and passed.

Among the measures he filed were House Bill 171 or the People’s Mining Bill and House Resolution 787 proposing a moratorium on new coal- fired power plants.

“We witnessed Rep. Zarate in action when he joined us in a mission in 2014 with the Talaingod Manobo communities in the Pantaron mountain range besieged by mining and logging interests and intense militarization. Along with other Bayan Muna members, Zarate has been part of our protest actions against illegal mining,” Clemente Bautista of Kalikasan PNE said.

“We need a DENR secretary who will stand for the people and the environment,” he added.

Duterte earlier offered four Cabinet positions, including the DENR portfolio, to the NDFP and Communist Party of the Philippines.