Perlas running for president

MANILA, Philippines – Saying none of the presidential wannabes stands for “real change,” environmental activist Nicanor “Nick” Perlas has stepped forward to make his bid for the highest post in the land in 2010.

Perlas announced his plan to run for president at a gathering of environmentalists, academicians and civil society personalities at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Library conference room in Quezon City   yesterday.

Perlas, who had declined an appointment as secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in 2002 due to his disapproval of the actions and policies of President Arroyo and many of her officials, said he arrived at the decision with some reluctance after much prodding from friends in civil society.

“I was hoping and have been long waiting for somebody to step forward who really stands for change,” Perlas told reporters.

“Somebody has to step up there, somebody that can give the people who want change a real choice,” Perlas said.

“I’d been waiting for that for sometime. But there has been no real choice,” Perlas, 59, said, adding that he is proud of his 40 years of work in the civil society sector.

”We’re moving to the same kind of political presidential campaign like before, there’s no real change,” he pointed out.

Perlas had travelled around depressed areas across the country as chairman of Lifebank, a microfinance institution that offers loans with low interest to over 230,000 “enterprising poor” and is a much sought after speaker on sustainable development issues by international organizations.

Perlas noted an apparent lack of enthusiasm among the people toward the current crop of presidentiables.

“People were starting to ask, because they know me, they know my background: why don’t you do it,” he said.

“From out of the blue, they’re asking me: why don’t you run for President? It’s coming from foreigners and fellow Filipinos. Actually, it’s been happening repeatedly for the past several years,” Perlas said.

“It’s a painful decision. I don’t like to be in the limelight. I only do that when it’s necessary for an advocacy. But in general, I’m a very private person,” Perlas said.

Perlas gained prominence as a determined activist who had successfully led campaigns against the operation of the controversial graft-ridden $2.2-billion Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) project and the use of 32 hazardous pesticide formulations in agriculture during the Marcos regime.

As an agriculturist and agronomist, Perlas had also pioneered in the advocacy for “sustainable agriculture” and had introduced the concept of large scale commercial organic and biodynamic agriculture in many provinces in the country.

Together with his colleagues in the International Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture (IASA), he is credited for coining the term sustainable agriculture in 1983. Perlas has a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture degree from Xavier University.

He has also tirelessly fought against liberalization and globalization policies put forward especially by the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

Due to such advocacies, Perlas has been regarded as the Philippine version of US consumer protection advocate and political activist Ralph Nader, who has also run, though unsuccessfully, for US president, under the Green Party.

For such accomplishments, Perlas has been honored with local and international awards. In 1994, he was given The Outstanding Filipino Award or TOFIL, and was included in the Global 500 Roll of Honor Award by the UNEP.

In 2003, he was conferred the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize annually presented in the Swedish Parliament to honor “those working on practical and exemplary solutions to the most urgent challenges facing the world today” in such fields as environmental protection, human rights, sustainable development, health, education and peace.

Perlas said he resigned from Lifebank when he decided finally to run for president.

Perlas said Filipinos are just waiting for a genuine candidate who they believe can truly carry out reforms.

Having gone around the country the past several years due to his advocacy and activist work, Perlas said he now knows the time is ripe for a candidate like him.

“It’s now or never,” Perlas said.

“I keep hearing this over and over, this has also come out in surveys: there are about 60 to 65 percent of Filipinos who are wanting something different,” Perlas said.

Perlas cited the election of detained Navy soldier Lt. Senior Grade Antonio Trillanes IV despite his not being able to campaign.

He said the biggest spenders such as former Surigao congressman Prospero Pichay and former Ilocos Sur governor and now Deputy National Security Adviser Luis “Chavit” Singson lost in the 2007 senatorial elections.

“Trillanes was voted by his fellow soldiers in the armed forces even if the generals were ordering them not to vote for him,” Perlas said.

“That’s why Arroyo is really in trouble,” Perlas said.

“I sense that they would really see something new, things they never heard before articulated will be articulated. I think it will spark people,” Perlas said.