Vidal rallies priests; Villar files bill: Widespread support for tonight's Earth Hour

CEBU, Philippines - Various society groups, including the church, schools, malls, hotels, utilities and local government units have joined the campaign against global warming by appealing to other stakeholders to participate in the “Earth Hour” by turning off their lights starting 8:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. tonight.

In a circular, Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Vidal is requesting the priests to “include in their sermons, talks and conferences theological insights on the problem of global warming.”

Also, the circular requests the whole archdiocese to encourage the public to participate in the Earth Hour by turning off their lights for an hour tonight.

Earth Hour is a global call to action to every individual, business, and community to stand up for the environment by turning off their lights for one hour.

Big malls in the city such as SM City and Ayala Center will switch off their lights, as well as hotels and restaurants, in hope to help address the problem of global warming.

Metro Cebu’s electricity provider, Visayan Electric Company, is also joining the campaign by reducing the power it gets from Cebu Private Power Corporation’s diesel-run plant by at least 20 megawatts starting 8:01 p.m. until 10 p.m.

Also, the officials of the Cebu City Government yesterday informed that the lights at the South Coastal Road would be turned off, not for an hour, but only for five minutes.

South Road Properties (SRP) manager Nagiel Banacia said they would not turn off the lights for an entire hour so as not to jeopardize the safety of the motorists who pass by the area.

On the other hand, the City Planning and Development Office of Cebu City Hall made an advance observance of the Earth Hour.

CPDO head Nigel Paul Villarete has issued an office memorandum, directing his staffs to turn off the lights and all electrical appliances in their office starting 4 p.m. yesterday and will not be turned on until the first working hours on Monday.

But while the city signified its participation to the campaign, Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said yesterday that the province would not do the same.

The governor said the lights in the bridges and other major infrastructures managed by the province will remain turned on, as she does not want to risk the security of the people.

For his part, Sen. Manny Villar has encouraged all Filipinos to support the observance of the Earth Hour tonight.

Villar made the call as he filed Senate Resolution 950 on the implementation of the country’s environmental laws, with the end in view of reviewing the policies and addressing gaps to ensure a healthy environment for all Filipinos.

 “Despite the surfeit of ecological laws, the Philippine environment remains to be in a critical state. Soil fertility has decreased while pollution has increased. Fisheries have become increasingly less productive while flooding and landslides occur annually due to erosion from deforestation,” Villar said.

Meanwhile, the University of the Visayas has commenced its green campaign just in time for the Earth Hour. In its efforts to support the green movement, the university will not only switch off its electricity for an hour but will also push efforts to reduce its electricity consumption. 

Light Emitting Diodes or LED lightings now illuminate the university basketball gymnasium as part of its first “green” steps. 

 “By replacing the 24 pieces of the 400-watt metal halide with a power consumption of 10,000 watts with 24 pieces of 70-watt LED bay light, we are now just using around 2,000 watts. Aside from the tremendous reduction in energy, the illumination even increased by 30 percent. We have been in the lookout for ways to cut that cost and at last we did!” said Jiji Gullas, prime mover of the university’s green campaign.

UV has tapped Greenworld LED Solutions, Inc., one of the earlier and local LED general lighting and signage distributor to provide the high quality LED lights for the university. Greenworld LED Solutions is the exclusive distributor of FITI brand LED lights and signages from Foxsemicon Integrated Technologies Inc. of Taiwan.  

Gullas further added that they chose LEDs instead of other lighting options for the sole reason of it being not only energy-efficient but also environment-friendly. 

The Hilton Cebu Resort and Spa will also be joining the tonight’s even through its own “Earth Hour” initiative.

Aside from closing all unnecessary lights in the resort, it will be showing the movie “An Inconvenient Truth.”

The resort’s management wants to “push the envelope regarding earth Hour and Climate Change” through the film.

Earth Hour 2009 will be the culmination of one billion people around the globe, in more than 1,000 cities from government, business, and community turning off the lights and sending a message to world leaders in the lead-up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference Copenhagen 2009.

The earth hour will be done in 1,000 cities worldwide to help in sending a message to world leaders on a commitment to make actions that can reduce global warming effects.

Last year, the earth hour was participated by 370 cities and towns in more than 35 countries across the globe. — AJ de la Torre, Johanna T. Natavio and Ferliza C. Contratista/WAB    (THE FREEMAN)