A young-survivor of super Typhoon Haiyan stands at a destroyed house along the coastal area of Tacloban City, Leyte province, in central Philippines on February 15, 2014 (AFP Photo/Ted Aljibe)
To mark Earth Day on Tuesday environmental groups in the Philippines launched a series of activities to highlight what they described as "the foremost environmental issues of US militarism and climate injustice" in the country.
The week-long program, which includes protests, forums and campaigns, is also timed to coincide with a visit by US President Barack Obama who will be in the Philippines from April 28 to 29. Defense and security are expected to top the agenda in his meeting with President Benigno Aquino.
Leon Dulce, campaign coordinator at Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment, said the increasing interventionism of US troops in the Asia-Pacific region was a key part of the country’s “pincer approach” in its “pursuit mainly of fossil fuel reserves in the East Asian waters and other territories".
"US militarism is part of its fossil fuel-hungry drive in the Asia-Pacific region that damages and pollutes the environment," he said, adding that such practices increase the vulnerability of local communities to natural disasters and the impacts of climate change.
Philippine Communications Secretary, Herminio Coloma Jr, said the Aquino-Obama meeting "may focus on what we call strategic partnership between the Philippines and the United States". The Philippines and the United States are in the final stages of negotiating an enhanced defense deal that would give Americans wider access to Philippine military bases.
During Obama's Asia trip, which also includes visits to Japan, South Korea and Malaysia, he is expected to push for his administration's planned diplomatic and military "rebalance" in the Asia Pacific region.
Environmental groups, however, fear that another aim of Obama's visit is to push for the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), which could spur a massive expansion of fossil fuel, extractive and other environmentally destructive and polluting industries by granting international companies 100 percent foreign ownership of lands and resources, as well as other investment guarantees.
Frances Quimpo, executive director of the Philippine-based Center for Environmental Concerns, said the TPPA "will perpetuate climate injustice towards grassroots communities in the Philippines and across the world by pursuing the liberalization of the entire Asia-Pacific rim".
Quimpo said that the TPPA would also facilitate the approval of large scale mining, logging and energy projects in the developing world by "the same big businesses that have long been responsible for the degradation of our environment and the increased vulnerabilities that our communities face".
"What steps has the Obama administration taken to compensate underdeveloped countries and grassroots communities for the damages, losses and adaptation needs caused by climate impacts?" Dulce asked.
These are "serious questions" that Obama should be answering during his visit to the Philippines, he added.
