By Chuck Baclagon<\/p>\n
The Philippines\u2019 raucous democracy cranks into top gear as the three-month campaign season starts with most interest on a crowded contest to succeed Benigno Aquino III, as the president of the republic, with familiar themes of corruption, dictatorship and personality politics to dominate the current public discourse.<\/p>\n
In the midst of the election circus advocates in the broader environmental justice movement here are seizing the power to utilize the season in achieving milestones for their respective campaigns.<\/p>\n
Environmental advocates including Kalikasan People\u2019s Network for the Environment,<\/a> Center for Environmental Concerns<\/a> and others have come together in a broad voter education campaign, the \u2018Green Vote 2016\u2019, to help voters choose \u2018eco-friendly\u2019 candidates in the upcoming national elections. The campaign aims to scrutinize track records and platforms of election candidates by conducting a background research on the track records and a survey on among the national candidates running for the presidential, vice-presidential, and senatorial positions.<\/p>\n