One just cannot deny the presence of 2010 president aspirant Nicanor “Nicky” Jesus Perlas III despite the flailing popularity rate and lack of prior political background and experiences. You cannot fully trust social surveys nowadays after all they are the opinions of what percentage of the country population anyway? His lack of experience in the political arena is shadowed by his overwhelming and exemplary credentials that he accumulated and accomplished throughout his career. A technical consultant to various institutions such as UNDP, UNICEF and UNSCD, government offices (Office of the President, Senate, NEDA and DENR among others and donor agencies like Plan International and CIDA. He is also an activist with a history that traces back to his university days when he led a large-scale campaign into stopping the operations of 12 nuclear plants in the country.
His background and great love for agriculture brought him as a member of a national panel regulating the use of pesticide in Philippine farming. He spearheaded the banning of some quite hazardous pesticides in the country. Perhaps he will be remembered most especially for coining the term “sustainable agriculture” in a time when it is still a fairly new idea. In addition to being a national delegate to UN and APEC Summits, Perlas was one of the two technical writers responsible in laying down the rules in Philippine Agenda 21 also known as PA21. What exactly is PA21 and what is its significance to the country? PA21 is regarded as the government’s official blue print for sustainable development. This is a joint effort of UN and every country as a potential method of helping solve the problems that plagues the world.
Over the years, Nicky Perlas has been a favorite keynote speaker in various events and conferences whether locally or internationally speaking on a wide array of topics, from agriculture to sustainable development, science and technology. He has penned numerous articles that also encompassed vast and different topics, published and authored a book that has been translated to various languages that is currently being used in some universities.
In June 2009, Perlas formally announced his intention of running in the 2010 presidential race as a candidate clearly deviating to the more common traditional ways of leadership. He is running under the Partido ng Marangal na Sambayanan (PANGMASA) that aims to create a social justice, government reformation, population control, environmental awareness and solid approach to climate change among others. Nobody can really say that Nicky Perlas does not have what it takes to be a potential leader of the country, after all the alternative politics he is offering is not that bad and he has his educational background, and achievements to back his platforms up.