Comments About Nicanor Perlas

 

Read what people are saying about Nicanor Perlas and his candidacy to become president of the Philippines.

 

Nicanor Perlas has been a recipient of the Right Livelihood Award (Alternative Nobel Prize) for his advocacy work on globalisation and sustainable development, as well as the UN Environmental Program’s Global 500 Award, The Outstanding Filipino (TOFIL) Award, and, most recently, the Manuel L. Quezon Award for Exemplary Governance.

Perlas was a technical consultant of the United Nations’ Center for Transnational Corporations. He also served as consultant of the Presidential Committee on the Philippine Nuclear Power Plant and of the Philippine Council of Sustainable Development during the Aquino and Ramos administrations.

 

...A number of my Green Party colleagues and supporters from around the world have spoken very highly of the work of Mr. Perlas. Candidates with a strong green agenda and credentials are running in nations throughout the world. These candidates offer an important democratic choice for the growing percentage of people who place environmental protection as central to their voting intentions. The Pew Centre's Global Attitudes Project (2002) found that 20% of Filipinos surveyed rated environmental degradation and pollution as the greatest threat to the world. lt is important for people with these concerns to have a democratic choice at election time. Mr. Perlas will provide people in the Philippines concerned about climate change and other environmental concerns with a voting choice at election time...

– Senator Bob Brown, Leader of the Australian Greens (taken from a letter written to Chairman Jose A.R. Melo, The Commission on Elections)

 

The following are quotes from "Let Nick Run" (www.thepetitionsite.com/1/let-nick-run), a petition to call for the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to approve the Certificate of Candidacy of Nicanor Perlas to run as president of the Philippines in the 2010 elections. The petition was open from Dec 19 - Jan 16:



Nicanor Perlas is a serious candidate for political office... Humanity has undergone an enormous change in numbers, technological prowess, consumer demand and a global economy. We have become so powerful that we are undermining the very life support systems of the planet. But we cling to our political and economic priorities, that we are blinded to the reality that it is nature that sets limits that we have to respect or else our survival is put at risk. The Philippines illustrates the problems afflicting all of humanity; unsustainable population growth, pollution, deforestation, ocean depletion and pollution, and so on. The challenge we face is to shift our perspective from one in which we and our political and economic institutions set the priorities to one in which we recognize that our health, well being and survival are utterly dependent on the state of nature and the natural world must be respected as setting the limits and parameters for human activity. As we saw at Copenhagen, the meetings failed because we cling to our political borders and raise economic issues and fail to acknowledge the supremacy of nature's limits. I believe it's people like Nicanor Perlas, who is internationally recognized for his work, who are providing the perspective we need to find truly sustainable solutions. You are fortunate in the Philippines to have a candidate like Perlas to raise these issues. I wish we had such prominent people in my country and I urge you to approve of his candidacy so that serious issues can be faced in public discourse.
– David Suzuki Professor emeritus Sustainable Development Research Institute University of British Columbia Vancouver, B.C., Canada

Nicanor represents hope for a new leadership that our planet is in need of.
– Otto Scharmer, Massachusetts

 

One of the most brilliant thinkers on sustainable development.
– Manfred Max-Neef, Chile

 

I know Nicanor as dedicated to the well being of people and the planet, being able to serve the Philippines with his manyfold capacities and proven integrity.
– Paul Mackay, Switzerland

Nicanor Perlas is first a true Philippino and on the other hand a world cosmopolitan. It would be a great value for the Philipines if they would have such a world-wide renown personality for President.
– Ulrich Roesch, Germany

 

Nicanor Perlas is an honest and trustworthy person, from A to Z!
– Elizabeth Wirsching, Switzerland

 

This is a letter on behalf of the presidential candidacy of Nicanor Perlas. I have known Nicanor for over 30 years, having published his writings in publications such as the East West Journal and Utne Reader magazine. Mr. Perlas is thoughtful and serious, with a truly global perspective. He has an extraordinary ability to synthesize diverse sources of information, build bridges between disparate constituencies, and inspire genuine hope. I was with Mr. Perlas in Stuttgart, Germany the day he received word that he had been declared the winner of the Right Livelihood Award. As a member of the Nobel Peace Prize Forum's Executive Committee, I can say there is no one more deserving of this alternative Nobel Peace Prize than Nicanor Perlas. When I learned about Mr. Perlas' candidacy for the presidency of the Philippines several months ago, I was heartened to think that the Philippines could be such an enlightened country that it would encourage one of its best and brightest countrymen to run for its highest office. Perhaps his election is unlikely, but so was Barack Obama's at the start of his presidential campaign... Nicanor Perlas (is) one of the world's greatest living statesmen.
– Eric Utne, Founder, Utne Reader

 

In a time when leadership must serve the greater good of our planet and its peoples, it must be our highest aim to support those who's vision can develop the collective human and planetary potential. Nicanor Perlas is such a leader and visionary. He holds the personal and social integrity to lead and transform his nation in these radical times of change.
– Orland Bishop, California

 

I know Nicanor Perlas and his work for a humanized globalization since 1999, his honesty and perseverance.
– Ute Craemer, Brazil

Nicanor Perlas offers an opportunity for the people of the Philippines and beyond to experience a fresh approach to government and social life.
– Philip Thatcher, Canada

 

 

Very honored ladies and gentlemen of the Commission on Elections, I met Nicanoor Perlas some years ago personally. It is one of the few persons that convinces based on its personal and professional competence and seriousity directly and remaining. I wish the philippines such a candidacy for presidentship, the phlippinian people can be proud to have such a person as a member.
– Rainer Kroll, CEO, wohnprojekt+ beratung und entwicklung GmbH

 

 

Nicanor is known the world over as a fair, accomplished and deeply compassionate leader.
– Christopher Schaefer Ph.D.

 

Perlas is the winner of the Right Livelihood Award, often called the "alternative Nobel Prize," and is one of the best qualified candidates to lead a nation since Nelson Mandela or Vaclav Havel. An environmentalist and sustainability leader in politics, he is certainly the equal of Al Gore.
– W Schock, Idaho

I have known Nicanor Perlas for at least 30 years. During that time he has developed the political and cultural initiatives that have benefited the Philippines in the past decade. Far from a hindering presence in the upcoming Philippine election, Perlas's leadership thinking and actions have the potential to replace corruption with forward looking planning for environment, government, and education in the Philippines--the kind of leadership for which he won the alternative Nobel Prize award.
– Gertrude Hughes, Connecticut

 

Nicanor Perlas is a world leader with a profound and hopeful vision for the Philippines. If you truly love your country, do not deny the great and good people of the Philippines an opportunity to consider him as their next president.
– John Beck, Massachusetts

 

 

Other quotes:

 

Schon vor 10 Jahren, 1999 habe ich Nicanor das erste Mal an das Goetheanum (CH Dornach) eingeladen, nachdem ich ihn ein Jahr vorher in Mumbai (Indien) kennen gelernt hatte. Es hatte mich fasziniert, in ihm einem Menschen  zu begegnen, der ohne unser differenziertes, manchmal schwerfälliges mitteleuropäisches Denken, sich spontan und mit Empathie den Problemen der Welt stellt. Seine Zeitgenossenschaft, seine politische Wachsamkeit und sein Engagement für die Zivilgesellschaft kann vielen Menschen ein Vorbild abgeben. Es würde Manchem das Weltbild öffnen, wenn eine solche Persönlichkeit als authentischer Präsidentschaftskandidat wirken könnte.
– Ulrich Rösch

 

 

Click here to see what people are saying about Nicanor on his website.