By Claro A. Lanipa
PAGADIAN CITY – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-9) headed by
Regional Technical Director Arleigh J. Adorable joined the rest of the world in
celebrating World Environment Day on Wednesday, June 5, 2013 with the theme
“Think Eat Save.”
The event kicked-off with a motorcade around the city’s
main thoroughfares followed by a simple
program at the Taclobo Stage, Plaza Luz with the participation of national and
local government offices including civic organizations and non-government
organizations.
Pagadian City Mayor-elect
Romeo P. Pulmones in his message said he was deeply touched by the facts earlier
presented to him particularly on the report of the United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization (UNFAO), that 1 in every 7 Filipinos and more than
20,000 children at the age of five die daily from hunger.
He said even here in
Pagadian City, there are people whose only means of livelihood is begging on
the streets in order to survive. “And I believe majority of these people go to
bed hungry every night. Yet, we can observe
the abundance of food around and it is sad to know that according to the
estimates of UNFAO, about one-third of the global food production is either
wasted or lost.”
Pulmones considers the problem on food shortage as an
additional challenge to his administration which will be given priority. “May this also be a challenge to
all not only to the DENR family. Together let us work and find a solution which
we could effectively implement so that one day we could solve the problem and
share by making people think, eat and save,” he added.
Meanwhile, Environment
Management Bureau Director Sixto Tolentino
emphasized the United Nations Environmental Program’s (UNEP) call for an
informed decision among consumerist – first, that we should make a good
selection or choices in the food we eat, but the kind of food we eat should be
organic, because it is free from chemicals.
Second, we should buy food
that is produced locally. “When you buy imported food, the movement causes energy releases and some of these
releases contribute to global warming.
Logically, “we should think
first what to eat so that we don’t only save ourselves but the environment we
live in,” Tolentino concluded. (PIA9)