10 MILLION GREEN VOTERS TO ‘SCORE’ 2016 CANDIDATES

The Green Thumb Coalition (GTC), representing various civil society and environmental organizations, releases the ‘Green Thumb Score Card’ – a set of questionnaires about different environmental issues that will be distributed to presidential, vice presidential and senatorial candidates running for the 2016 elections.

The Green Thumb Score Card will help further educate voters by publicly presenting the different positions of candidates on biodiversity, natural resources and land use management, sustainable agriculture, human rights and integrity of creation, climate justice, mining and extractives management, energy transformation and democracy, people centered sustainable development and waste.

Electoral candidates will be scored according to their positions and track records. The members of the GTC feel it is high time to talk about environmental issues and other issues that matter, and call on the candidates to unveil how they plan to lead the Philippines for the next six years, should they win.

The Green Vote

The recent Green Vote campaign that gathered 10 million votes illustrates that environmental protection is one of the major concerns of the Filipino voter. The Green Vote seeks to address major issues that debilitate our ecosystems, such as mining, dirty energy such as coal, and waste incineration.

The Green Vote is a major political force that can potentially shape the outcome of the elections, which is why it is imperative for candidates to present their views on different environmental issues and to ask voters to be vigilant by assessing the environmental track records and positions of candidates.

This is what GTC is hoping to achieve – educate voters, mobilize communities and to hold candidates accountable for their positions, in order to properly identify candidates who will protect our environment, our climate, our lives and our future. ###

Green Thumb Coalition members: ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation, Inc. (ALKFI), Aksyon Klima, Alternative Law Groups (ALG), Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM), AMEN, Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP-JPIC), Ban Toxics, Bantay Kalikasan Foundation (BK), Bantay Kita, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), Bulig Visayas, CBCP-NASSA, Center for Energy, Ecology and Development (CEED), Climate Reality, Dakila, Ecological Justice Interfaith Movement (ECOJIM), Ecowaste Coalition, FOCUS, Foundation for the Philippine Environment (FPE), Foundation for a Sustainable Society Inc. (FSSI), Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), Global Anti Incinerator Alliance (GAIA), Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM), Green Convergence, Greenpeace Southeast Asia, Haribon, Oceana, PADER, Pambansang Koalisyon ng Kababaihan sa Kanayunan (PKKK), Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA), Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ), Philippine Rural Recontruction Movement (PRRM), Prelate of Infanta Community, Pugad Lawin Pilipinas Inc. (PLPI), Purple Action for Women’s Rights (Lilak), Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP), SANLAKAS, Save Sierra Madre, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Youth for Rights (Y4R) and 350.org

*Photo retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/GreenThumbCoalition/photos/