Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Votebook: Nicanor Perlas

Nicanor Perlas




Political Party
Independent

Hometown
Iloilo

Short Description
Global Consultant on Integral Sustainable Development



Civil Status
Single
Gender
Male
Nationality
Filipino
Birthday
January 10, 1950
Spouse
-
Children 
-

Profession
Global Consultant on Integral Sustainable Development, Farmer, Banker, Lecturer, Scientist
Company
CADI
Religion 
Website 
www.nicanorperlas.com
 About Nicanor Perlas 

Although Nicanor Perlas has never run for public office, he has been analyzing, reframing, and altering the course of national and global events for over thirty years. He has been altering the political landscape without being a politician. A good example of this has been his work in analyzing, reframing, and altering an important aspect of trade liberalization and globalization in Asia and the Pacific.

In 1996, the US government planned to use the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) as a vehicle to advance radical liberalization in Asia and the Pacific. The 18 member economies of APEC, at that time, directly contributed to 52% of the worlds GNP.

Through a strategic understanding of the substance, process, competing paradigms and interests in APEC, Nicanor Perlas convinced, then President Fidel V. Ramos to advance sustainable development as a more appropriate paradigm in APEC. Ramos was Chair of APEC in 1996. Ramos, with the help of Perlas, who was then negotiating with several Cabinet members, then convinced the 18 Heads of State of APEC, including then US President Bill Clinton, the President of China, the Prime Minister of Japan, to issue an APEC Leaders Declaration that introduced sustainable development as the third paradigm in APEC. Even more important, three million rice farmers were spared from the potentially disastrous consequences of radical liberalization. This happened amidst considerable resistance from the US Government.

Perlas was not only able to do this in APEC. He has similarly succeeded altering and/or creating new national policies that advance more sustainable forms of developments.

He was key in keeping the Philippines nuclear free, stopping the government from implementing their plan to build 12 nuclear power plants. He spearheaded the national movement that led to the banning of 32 pesticide formulations that were poisoning millions of farmers. He triggered the creation of a national integrated pest management program that had a budget of P750 million and which served over 100,000 farmers. He mobilized civil society to collectively craft, together with government, Philippine Agenda 21, which became the highest government framework for development under the Ramos administration. The UN also cited PA21 as one of the more promising examples of innovative approaches to sustainable development. Together with government, he succeeded in institutionalizing the societal threefolding approach, inaugurated globally in the Philippines, as part of its preferred approach to solving world problems. As member of the Steering Committee of KOMPIL II, he helped mobilized different sectors to remove Estrada from office.

Nicanor Perlas has the necessary understanding, skills, and experience in key development issues in the Philippines. Whether it is anti-corruption work, moral renewal, poverty reduction, participatory governance, globalization, fair trade, environment, safe energy, genetic engineering, multiple-intelligent education, sustainable agriculture, Nicanor Perlas has been deeply involved in creating some of the country’s leading advocacies and initiatives that address these challenges. Nicanor Perlas had the courage to persevere despite the seeming impossibility of the task including personal danger to his life.

In short, Nicanor Perlas had been inaugurating significant national policies influencing the lives of millions without being directly involved in politics. Perlas achieved significant results and impacts despite the more difficult of having to convince those who held political power to take up one’s advocacies. Significantly more will be done if Perlas would be able to directly mobilize government to advance sustainable development policies.

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