Sonny Alvarez is no stranger to controversy. He has lived with it for the better part of his life. No matter how he may be described – arrogant trapo to enemies, principled fearless fighter to admirers – one cannot deny that Sonny Alvarez has paid his dues dearly. Recently flailed by Mayor Atienza’s board as a persona non grata, sued for libel by an underling he ordered investigated, daily denounced by certain announcers, Alvarez retains the candor of one who has survived many baptisms of fire and an unshakeable commitment to his causes. let’s hear what he has to say.
Philippine STAR: It seems that your political career began as a student activist. Is it true that you spent more time in political activities, preventing you from pursuing a regular student’s schedule?
Heherson Alvarez: That is partly correct. That was a highly intense political period. The ferment impacted on many of us who were in the thick of youth activism. Few were as concerned with careers as much as organizing for social change. Learning happened in the classroom of the streets. We took our academic life in stride but viewed political and social change very seriously. But in Harvard, while on exile, I chose to master in Public Administration, focusing on development.
Activists then and now seem to have their share of entanglements. Some friends called you "the sheik" and relate your weakness for artists. You were linked to a Filipina international soprano, and later married a theater artist. Do you still have this weakness for artists?
If by "Sheik" you mean primitive or tribal, perhaps. I have always been drawn to artists instinctively. At the University of the Philippines, I was won over by a soprano before she became an international celebrity. I fell in love with my wife (Cecile Guidote) before she was honored with a Magsaysay Outstanding Asian Award.
Even now, 30 years after our matrimonia de consciencia presided over by Fr. James Reuter at an underground ceremony during martial law I continue to support her artistic energies especially her work with disabled and tribal youth in the EarthSavers Dreams Ensemble.
You can see, I am a bit biased for the artists. I know quite a lot who are fascinatingly complex and deeply caring. I authored the law creating the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). Culture and the arts can be a key to unlock the gridlock of underdevelopment and a catalyst to forge our national identity and unity.
What was your first elected political position?
I ran as an independent and was elected as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1972. It was a star-studded body with two former presidents, Diosdado Macapagal and Carlos P. Garcia as delegates, former justices of the Supreme Court, senators, academic leaders, writers, intellectuals and labor leaders. A few young political upstarts like myself, Larry Davide, Nene Pimentel, Raul Roco, Gerry Espina, Dick Gordon, Manny Martinez, Lilia de Lima, Felix Alfelor and Voltaire Garcia shared the limelight with seasoned and accomplished figures.
Was it easy for you to defy the first stirrings of Marcos’ dictatorship in the 1971 Constitutional Convention?
There were sweeteners for those who would join the Marcos camp. But resistance to martial rule came naturally. Students and many youth at that time did not like Marcos even as elected leader. In public youth rallies, Marcos had been a favorite target for his systematic thievery and abuse of human rights. When the Marcos forces began to move to control the constitutional convention to perpetuate him in power, the battle line was drawn between us and the Marcos group. But in the end, we were only a handful, about 21, who openly defied the dictatorship and refused to sign the Marcos charter.
How did you escape? Who helped you?
When a shoot-to-kill order was issued by the government on me and Congressman Bonifacio Gillego, I planned to escape. Jane Lawson was a student in Maryknoll and her father operated a fleet of cargo vessels around Asia. While I was hiding at the house of Mr. Paco Delgado, she informed me that one of her father’s boats was docked in Manila. My best friend Ricky Delgado rushed to contact the ship captain, Mr. Stephanous Livanos, and arranged for my surreptitious voyage to Hong Kong. Cecile had a PETA artist, Len Santos, disguise me. I had a new haircut, and I walked with a limp carrying a box like a member of the crew.
I was brought to the engine room and remained there until the vessel was outside Philippine territory. I had no travel documents of my own. I used the passport of Eduardo Pescador, one of Cecile’s actors. Upon arriving in the United States via Paris, I applied for asylum and helped organize the Movement for a Free Philippines (MFP) as secretary general with Raul Manglapus as president. I used a refugee document given by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees during my exile in the US.
Was there any attempt by Marcos to bring back by force any of the political exiles abroad?
There are recorded "salvaging" of those opposing the dictatorship abroad. Some labor leaders were killed in Seattle. Primitivo Mijares who wrote the book Conjugal Dictatorship, just vanished from the face of the earth. The FBI reported he was missing since a Marcos loyalist had convinced him to go home. Up to now, his disappearance remains a mystery. And of course, the globally-witnessed brutal assassination of Ninoy on the tarmac.
Personally, I received threats, sometimes delivered in a friendly manner, others in an ominously. But one never knew who really spoke for the government not until Mrs. Marcos invited some exile leaders (Ninoy, Steve Psinakis and myself) to meet with her one on one. In a four-hour conversation at her Waldorf suite, Mrs. Marcos tried to cajole me into coming home. She said many of my contemporaries had done very well by cooperating with the dictatorship, and that martial law had brought a lot of tremendous improvement to the Philippines.
She told me that if I were to go home, I would have not only safe passage in her plane but even an opportunity to serve in the martial law government. If I didn’t, she slyly threatened that President Reagan was a friend and surely we will be under FBI surveillance. In her inimitably charming way, it was a caring message of warning that our life could become very difficult as exiles.
You were aligned with Senator Manglapus in the freedom movement. Was there a falling-out later? Why?
It was not a falling-out but a strategic shift. There was a surging tide among a certain sector towards a more aggressive campaign, akin to the spirit of the Light-A-Fire Movement. But Raul and I remained good friends and close political allies.
What was your position in the Ninoy Aquino Movement?
I founded the Ninoy Aquino Movement (NAM) overseas and built strong linkages with groups in the Philippines within the anti-martial law movement. Ninoy’s martyrdom provided a driving force to unify and harmonize and to topple the dictatorship. We documented the hidden billions of the Marcoses and lobbied aggressively to cut US military aid. The cut of military aid, which could not be substituted from other foreign sources because it was half a billion dollars worth of American guns, bullets, military equipment and training, was a crucial pressure point that forced Marcos to call for a snap election which later Marcos announced on American TV.
Why was the group called Steak Commandoes?
The group was called by the dictatorship "Steak Commandos" to smear us, to belittle the sense of urgency, sacrifice and self worth of the exile struggle.
It was clever black propaganda. The regime wanted to put across an image of an easy life in the US presumably saying that we were fighting with all the advantages far from the dictatorship in the Philippines, away from the poverty of the motherland. People who were part of the movement knew that each one paid a measure of sacrifice to serve the movement. It was no Sunday picnic.
Your brother Marsman was tortured to death as a reprisal for your anti-Marcos activities. How did your family react? Did they ever blame you?
Gruesome torture and killing were used even in Latin America. This was called selective terror, where leaders of opposition who cannot be touched are hurt through their families. I was warned to stop my lobbying in the US. A month later, my brother was tortured, his head crushed, his tongue cut, his eyes gouged out and his mangled lifeless body thrown in front of a churchyard. It made my mother almost insane and my father died of a heart attack.
Yet there was no complaint from my family. Before I went underground, I consulted with my mother and father. My father for a while cautioned against opposing Marcos, for after all he said that it was a struggle among different generations. This was the generation of Macapagal against Marcos, and Marcos vs. Ninoy. They were contemporary political antagonists.
But my mother suggested that I was elected so it was also my battle, if I so choose to oppose, that I was in an arena where I could fully participate. My father kept quiet and so I understood that to mean that my whole family gave its consent for me to oppose.
But it was natural for me to own the blame for causing so much grief on my family. They had to move to Manila from Isabela and live almost like refugees. Later, my mother managed to travel to Rome and from Rome to the US. She joined us in exile and took care of my baby girl Xilca. It helped her to be whole again.
How did you make ends meet as an exile? Did you really become a cook?
There was a restaurant that was falling apart on the lower Eastside. Some friends and I pooled our resources to buy the place. We were able to make it flourish. The restaurant became my support base for my family and gave me the capacity to carry out my political activities.
Cooking is not really my forte but I had indicated how certain dishes were cooked which I got from my mother’s stack of recipes. One of them is this very popular fare in my hometown Isabela, it was something that my mother had concocted, estofado with all kinds of spices and I called it "Chicken La Mama." It clicked.
What was your personal relationship with Ninoy Aquino like?
Warm, fraternal, friendly, very much unlike my arms-length relationship with him when I was a young Concon delegate in the Philippines while he was a senator. In the US, we were collegial and Ninoy was a very changed man. He was always talking about how to bring back the country towards democracy without bloodshed. So, when you traveled with Ninoy, you were discussing not a drastic revolution but the restoration of constitutional democracy and reforms through peaceful efforts.
Ninoy was also worried that if upon arrival, he was sent back to jail or God forbid, something more drastic should happen to him, it was important someone was abroad to carry on the struggle. He left me his unique leather attache case. He said it was a gift from his mother which he had used for some time and he wanted me to keep it. We embraced tightly like brothers when we bade our goodbyes in Boston just before he flew back to Manila via Taipei. It was an emotionally-charged moment and there were tears in our eyes. It was our last farewell.
You had two terms as senator, one term as congressman and now you are DENR secretary. Doesn’t this make you a professional politician? Have you and your family maintained the same lifestyle?
At the end of the day, it is what you have done that characterizes your politics. May not a politician also be a statesman? A good, professional public servant? For me, public service is a kind of priesthood.
Nothing much has changed, it was far more difficult of course when we were fighting the dictatorship, you had to do with so little. There are a number of amenities readily available if you’re in high office, security aide, driver, support staff, but other than that, one remains the same person no matter the circumstances. Our lifestyle remains simple, we live in the same house we had since 1987.
As senator and congressman, what laws have you authored that you are particularly proud of? Have any of these changed our lives?
I authored the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, and enabled the country to give 400,000 hectares to landless farmers in the countryside. There may have been shortfalls from the original intentions to bring about revolutionary changes in their lives. However, the land reform program has been one of the biggest resource transfers to redress the immemorial poverty of landless farmers. I’m particularly proud of the Comprehensive Land Reform Program although it has yet to be completed.
I also authored the law creating the Department of Energy (DOE), a landmark legislation that enabled the Ramos government to address the critical problem of brownout that almost crippled the economy. I’m particularly proud of a series of legislation especially those that improved the export position of the country addressing critical economic weaknesses and of course the series of legislation addressing environmental degradation like the National Integrated Protected Areas Systems (NIPAS) Act, Clean Air Act, Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.
Complementing these legislation are initiatives that address environmental degradation like the conference in global warming which we had convoked in Manila in 1995, the ACOPS Ministerial Meeting for the Protection of the Seas in 1996 and the removal of lead through the Healthy Air Pact which I had initiated and consummated in cooperation with the oil industry in 1993.
As congressman, you were the very first in the lower house to ask for the impeachment of Erap. Were you subjected to any harassment?
Nobody believed impeachment would work but it was a challenge to test the Constitution and I felt that it would be a sword of Damocles that would push him to resign. At the very least it would be a vehicle for our people’s political education.
I received sarcastic and cynical remarks from my colleagues. A number were predicting it was the end of my political career. The support of former presidents, the resignation of then Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the Catholic Church, civil society and a number of our muslim friends and youth activists gave me the certitude, courage and stamina to pursue truth and justice. I had to double my security. We were getting it through text, mysterious calls and notes. But prayer power was our weapon against fear and intimidation.
Congress showed its best face on Nov. 13. It was a historic moment and I felt as elated and victorious as when I was on a plane returning to Manila after 13 years of exile.
Although you were offered a place in the Lakas senatorial coalition in the last elections, you opted not to take it. You seem to have set your eyes on the DENR portfolio. What do you consider your credentials for it?
I went to the cathedral and prayed with Cecile. My mother had her novena to our Lady of Piat. I heeded the counsel of a former DENR official and other concerned citizens who said, "The Senate can wait but the environment cannot." I have a fairly substantial understanding of environmental problems both global and local. I have crafted major legislation on the environment which I now have the opportunity to implement to protect the environment.
In all its complexities, I pursued environmental issues. I sought to understand them while chair of the Environment Committee in the Senate. For over a decade I was in the forefront of eco-politics in crafting measures for clean air and the awesome problem of global warming and promoting environmental education.
Understanding the environment is never enough to be able to protect it. But having a sense of danger and an understanding of its continuing ruin would help to contain that disaster. The DENR post can be a bully pulpit to conscienticize our people to recognize every citizen’s responsibility to restore the health of our ailing Mother Earth.
As DENR secretary, I also have the opportunity to respond to the Filipino people’s demand for good governance and president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s poverty reduction program, demands clearly expressed in the political transitions that occurred in: People Power 2.
Why are you against total logging ban? What do you mean by sustainable management?
I am not against a logging ban; in fact the department is already implementing total log ban in all designated protection forests, i.e., proclaimed critical watersheds, old-growth forests and all areas above 1,000 meters in elevation. I however support timber harvesting in production forest. I have been consistent ever since in my position that I am for sustainable forest management, which means allowing timber harvesting in production forest especially in forest plantations.
In the Philippines it only takes 10 years to grow and harvest trees whereas in temperate countries it takes at least 50 years. Harnessing therefore the economic potentials of our production forests, including the more or less five million hectares of degraded areas, is a major program of the GMA administration. This program is consistent with the country’s Forestry Master Plan.
Sustainable development is defined as meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Sustainable development can in fact be best exemplified in the DENR’s sustainable forest management policy in protecting, preserving, managing and developing the country’s forest resources.
Recently, you were under fire, from no less than Enrique Zobel, for granting reforestation contracts in three forest areas to "one firm, posing as five." Wasn’t this a criminal oversight?
Unfortunately Enrique Zobel was misinformed. No, this is not a criminal oversight. We have studied this very carefully. In fact this program started during the time of former President Fidel V. Ramos which was continued by the previous administration and now under the GMA administration.
DENR established an industrial plantation corridor in CARAGA. In fact, DENR issued DAO 99-13 declaring roughly 690,000 hectares of production forests as the country’s Timber Corridor. What we have awarded is approximately 120,000 hectares, thru a co-production sharing agreement with a New Zealand-and Finland-assisted company named Shannalyn Inc.
The agreement allows them to plant and develop the awarded area using entirely private funds. The company intends to establish industrial forest plantation to support the first wood-based ecozone in the Philippines as approved by the President thru Presidential Proclamation No. 17 to be established also in CARAGA. This venture will not allow cutting of natural forest nor investment of government funds. This program is very much consistent with our sustainable forest management program.
You have been quoted as having warned that without massive tree planting we will lose the Angat watershed, a major life line water source, in 20 years.
We have always said that a forest is not only a source of wood but also a major component of the life support system, as a watershed. A case in point is Angat Watershed, which is a major source of the water for Metro Manila. I believe that without rehabilitating Angat Watershed, its water holding capacity will be dramatically reduced. Therefore, its capability to provide water for irrigation and domestic water in Metro Manila and nearby areas will definitely be diminished.
As a matter of fact, if that expensive Sierra Madre tunnel was not cut to access water from the Umiray River, industries in Metro Manila, irrigation for Bulacan and its households, water supply would be reduced to a trickle.
You have warned against depletion of the ozone layer. In layman’s terms what are the effects of this depletion on us?
Scientifically, it has been proven that production and use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other similar Ozone Depleting Substances contribute to the destruction of the earth’s ozone layer. Ozone layer is a protective mantle which envelopes the earth and screens the ultra violet radiation from the sun. Scientists say that for every one percent increase of ultra violet radiation reaching the earth, with the ozone layer gone, a corresponding eight percent rise in the risks of skin cancer can occur including eye cataracts, weakened immune systems, reduced plant yields, retardation of animal growth and damage to plastic building materials. The increase of ultra violet radiation reaching the earth can also cause dramatic destruction of phytoplanktons, which are major sources of food for the fish in the ocean, thereby threatening the food chain. The destruction of the ozone layer, therefore is a major threat to mankind.
Speaking of the ozone issue, Peter Abaya, whom you charged administratively and is now under investigation for over- importation of ODS in violation of the country program in accordance with the Montreal Protocol, filed a libel case against you. Is there anything criminal about this?
The illegal importation of ozone depleting substances (ODS) is criminalized under Republic Act No. 6969, otherwise known as the "Toxic and Hazardous Waste Act." The Philippines has a country program which regulates the use and importation of ODS in the country pursuant to its commitment in the Montreal Protocol. Yet, then EMB Dir. Peter Abaya authorized the entry of new importers and allowed the importation of ODS contrary to the phase out program of the DENR. Abaya altered our country program based on an international agreement endangering people’s lives and the environment, courting the rise of such scourges as skin cancer, cataracts, weakened immune systems and destruction of the marine food chain. These real dangers cannot be over emphasized. It is criminal to fool around with technicalities to cover up the pandora’s box of human suffering it can unleash.
I was sued for libel by Mr. Abaya for the simple act of disclosing to the general public the result of an investigation conducted by our legal office that found Mr. Abaya to have allowed the illegal importation of ODS by the new and favored importers without any supporting document or the concurrence of the Philippine Ozone Desk tasked to phase out ozone depleting substances in the country. The government’s attention has been called on the rise of ODS imports by the Swedish partner on ODS and the World Bank. The libel charge is no less than a counter-charge on the numerous anomalies found in the EMB during Mr. Abaya’s term as director.
Mr. Abaya has been trying to defend his endorsement of the midnight approval of several highly irregular ECCs involving critical projects that adversely affect the environment, such as the Pulupandan Power Project in Negros and the controversial Placer Dome ECC in Marinduque.
You were co-author of the Clean Air Act, which does not seem to be working. Manila has slid down to the 10th most polluted city in the world. Why is the law not working? Is it not being enforced? Does it address the real problems?
Fossil fuels by themselves are a threat to human health because they are made up of substances which when burned, emit dangerous exhaust. By taking out the lead content, through the Healthy Air Pact of 1994 which I initiated as chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment, we made the right move in lessening the hazardous effects of fuel. Throughout the world, experts are continuously searching for ways to further improve the safety and efficiency of fossil fuel without pushing its price beyond the reach of consumers.
The Clean Air Act was not conceived as a magic wand that would all at once eliminate air pollution in the country. The full implementation of the law cannot be done in just one full swoop. We should allow the law to run its course as designed in the Implementing Rules and Regulations issued by my department.
There are several measured steps, which must be undertaken in order to enforce the National Ambient Air Quality Guidelines Values. Foremost are the appropriate air pollution monitoring and measuring devices, which will be funded and approved by the ADB at a cost of $4.5 million. Once approved, these measuring devices will start the process of regulating and monitoring air pollution mechanisms for both stationary and mobile emissions.
The implementation of the Clean Air Act will be made through the joint efforts of the LTO and the DTI on motor vehicles and other mobile air pollution sources, and the DENR on all stationary sources.
What is your main goal on the stewardship of the environment and natural resources?
The environment and natural resources are an instrument for breaking the chain of poverty, especially of the upland dwellers, marginal fisherfolk, small-scale miners and urban poor. The environment has to be protected and the natural resources conserved, managed and developed in ways that will reduce poverty.
Poverty drives people to overuse and abuse the capacity of our soils, forests, waters and seas beyond their limits. The ruin of our natural resources thereby exacerbates the lot of our poor.
That is why we have refocused the thrust of the DENR to have the greatest impact on the economy and our people. We are creating opportunities for jobs and entrepreneurship and ensuring the equitable access and wise use of our natural resources. We will no longer allow big business to monopolize the fruits of our vast natural resources. We welcome all investment to explore mineral resources but it must be done in a manner that complies with all environmental rules. We are accelerating the regreening of denuded mountains and watersheds and cleaning up of polluted water bodies. We cannot afford to be devisive in the face of the mounting garbage crisis. We are acting quickly and decisively in coordination with the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the support of LGUs in building social discipline and harnessing community sectors involvement.
We are doing all these in partnership with civil society/NGOs. We shall empower the local government units and the stakeholders. We are making this based on social acceptability, rules and science. In essence, the DENR shall be the dynamic force behind people’s initiatives in bio-cultural diversity protection, conservation, management and wise use of the environment through strategic alliances and partnerships, participative process, relevant policies, science-based programs and appropriate education and information technology to banish poverty while ensuring sustainable development. But impaired environment victimizes all social classes. For one, cancer, the ubiquitous silent killer, knows no classes. Everyone has to work together. We must link the few who have more with the majority who have less in this struggle.
Why are there forces blocking your confirmation?
There are those who do not feel kindly towards me for initiating the impeachment and they think that they can get at me through the CA. One of them, the jueteng lord mayor from my hometown who was suspended when I did an investigation as Blue Ribbon chairman on his illegal gambling. He has conjured a bogus complaint understandably.
There are also those who are not happy with my efforts to clean up the bureaucracy. These are, of course, disgruntled personnel. Some of those affected have political clout but I must guarantee the integrity of the cleanup. There will be no sacred cows if we have to succeed in cutting down corruption, whether it is to go after illegal logging or the proliferation of dangerous chemicals. There are some midnight ECCs I have revoked, after public hearings, re-evaluation of data and on-sight inspection.
Thus I signed a DENR Administrative Order benefiting the poor fishermen and protecting coastal resources. There are also business interests with allies in Congress that are lobbying against this policy. Smear campaign is fueled with distaste for aggressive reform.
People like Mayor Atienza of Manila had me declared as persona non grata. Silly.
There is nothing personal in my defending the integrity of the Mehan Gardens as a historical, cultural and anthropological site. I have to do my job and follow the law. However, I am confident all of these issues can be clarified in the proper forum or at the Commission on Appointments (CA).
Many of those issues have no place or relevance to my confirmation. They have been conjured for the CA. But I have faith in the confirmation process. The record of my public service is an open book. I am very grateful to so many local government officials, environmental organizations, civic and religious groups and even church leaders that have endorsed my nomination. I have served in the CA through my two terms in the Senate and while in Congress. The process allows for the truth to prevail. I have full trust that my colleagues are fair and that these foolishness will be cast aside. In the end, vision, competence, and effective leadership will be entrusted to protect our environment and set pre-eminent standards for public service.