CCC calls for ban on plastic poll campaign materials

MANILA – The Climate Change Commission (CCC) on Thursday called on the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to formulate a policy that would prohibit the use of plastic-made campaign materials in the upcoming Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).

In a statement, CCC Commissioner Albert Dela Cruz Sr. said the policy must also be implemented in the future exercise of the public's right to suffrage as the widespread use of plastics has tagged the country as a top contributor to ocean plastic pollution.

"During his first State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Romualdez Marcos Jr. lamented that the Philippines had been tagged as among the top three contributors to ocean plastic pollution and this year was in fact described as the No. 1 Ocean Plastic Contributor by an international magazine," he said.

Consequently, the CCC was mandated to create policies supporting the Marcos administration’s call for the fulfillment of the country’s commitment to the 2015 Paris Agreement which aims to initiate immediate climate action to save the environment and preserve a resilient future for the coming generations of Filipinos.

“We recognize that issues on climate change include the production and use of plastics, especially single-use plastics (SUPs) that eventually aggravate the garbage situation and pollution in the country. Considering its negative impacts on the environment and human health, everyone must understand what needs to be done to effectively reduce, and ultimately, to eliminate these plastics,” Dela Cruz said.

“This is why, I welcome Senator Loren Legarda’s Senate Bill 246, or the ‘Single-Use Plastics Regulation and Management Act of 2022’, which will not only lead to the phase-out and