Student government officers from four tertiary institutions in Cebu drafted environmental resolutions during the first Poli-SEA Defenders Campaign at the Cebu City Social Hall on Wednesday.
Sibonga Community College and the University of the Philippines (UP)-Cebu presented their draft resolutions for comprehensive solid waste management projects in their schools, while Mandaue City College opted for a widened campus awareness of their “Clean as you go” policy.
Meanwhile, the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) drafted a resolution providing a two-peso discount on drinks if the student will use his own container.
According to Poli-SEA Defenders founder Kel Alegre, he wanted to remove the misconception that student leaders are less environmentally aware by empowering student leaders through policy-making.
“So, we want to proactively address that by making sure that students are empowered enough and at least aware about the surroundings in their school,” Alegre said.
Alegre said that his experience in UP Cebu council made him realize that student leaders and councils can create an environmental network to have a louder voice.
Poli-SEA Defenders is Alegre’s project proposal during the 2017 Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative-Sea and Earth Awareness (YSEALI-SEA) camp, a project of Save Philippine Seas (SPS), which is funded by the US Embassy’s youth cultural program, YSEALI.
The seed fund for the project came from SPS, an organization formed by UP Diliman students as a response to the height of apprehended sea turtle poaching and coral exploitation in 2010. /=