Rene Pineda, Staunch Environmental Advocate, Completed His Journey at 69

20 February 2026, Quezon City. Renato “Rene” D. Pineda, Jr., a fearless environmental warrior, passed away on February 16, 2026. He would have turned 70 on August 13.

Pineda is revered for his companionship, leadership, and commitment to Mother Earth and the Filipino people. He is particularly remembered for his principled stance on many issues that matter to the health and well-being of the people and the ecosystems, challenging duty-bearers, government and industry leaders in particular, to prioritize environmental sustainability and social justice.

In his decades of advocacy, Pineda served in various capacities in many environmental formations such as the Concerned Citizens Against Pollution (COCAP), Consumer Rights for Safe Food (CRSF), EcoWaste Coalition, Green Convergence for Safe Food, Healthy Environment and Sustainable Economy, National Task Force Against Aerial Spraying (NTFAAS), Partnership for Clean Air (PCA), and more.

As president of the PCA, Pineda fought for the basic right to clean air. “Aside from stopping waste burning in all its forms, action is needed to reduce air pollution from coal power plants and industrial facilities, as well as from vehicles, planes, and ships. Our children and their children will be better off if we invest more in zero waste resource management, energy efficiency, and renewable energy sources rather than in fossil fuel combustion and waste-to-energy incineration,” he stated.

Pineda supported the EcoWaste Coalition’s long-running campaign against firecrackers and fireworks called “Iwas Paputoxic.” Addressing a community event in Caloocan City, he pointed out: “The unseen health hazard of air pollution brought about by lighting firecrackers and fireworks far outweighs the momentary spectacle of revelry. Toxic fumes emitted by these explosives often contain complex chemical compounds that may lead to respiratory tract infections and even death in vulnerable sectors like the elderly, children, and pregnant women.”

As then vice-president of the EcoWaste Coalition, Pineda minced no words in rejecting landfill disposal for the controversial Canadian garbage shipment. “We stand in solidarity with the Tarlac government and people in their efforts to stop a precedent-setting disposal of illegal trash from Canada and ensure the protection of public health and the environment. Canada cannot simply bury the evidence of this case of gross environmental injustice in our soil and get away with it,” he said. To prevent pollution, Pineda called on the national government to undertake two urgent steps: “First, we should ratify the Basel Ban Amendment (to protect the country from becoming a foreign waste dumpsite) and second, we should stop tinkering with legalizing the burning of waste through waste-to-energy (WtE) proposals."

As early as 2010, Pineda had objected to WtE incineration. "It will instantly cut the cycle of resources that require lots of energy to produce. The alleged energy recovery by a WtE is nowhere near one-tenth of one percent of a resource’s energy requirement to be mined, transformed and manufactured, marketed and used as a consumer item, and disposed of as waste. Therefore, a WtE, no matter how it is green-washed today by its proponents, will hasten the depletion of the Earth’s non-renewable resources. It will quickly de-energize our planet and fuel nations in the race against an irreversible global warming.”

As head of the NTFAAS, he reminded banana plantation owners engaged in the aerial application of pesticides that “to be in business is not a matter of right but a privilege.” He said: “In the discourse about aerial spraying of pesticides, wherein a clear-cut policy is absent ever since, and severe public health and environment hazards are clearly established and verifiable, that privilege is mandatorily prevailed upon by the most supreme right – the right to life of affected citizens.”

Disturbed by moves to revive the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, Pineda urged proponents to rethink their “solution” to the energy crisis: “We urge our policy makers not to wake up the sleeping ‘monster of Morong’ from its 30-year slumber. It’s better to keep the plant idle rather than to create a highly toxic problem that our nation cannot handle.”

As president of the CRSF, he pushed for food safety vigilance to ensure quality and safe food for all. “We call upon the government to uphold the safety and welfare of the consuming public by the full implementation of laws (particularly RA 10611 or the Food Safety Act) that govern the safety of food.” More recently, Pineda pressed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to speed up the probe on the use of banned food coloring Rhodamine B in fermented shrimp paste (bagoong alaman), “so corrective measures can be immediately carried out.”

Pineda also backed legal challenges and remedies to uphold the right to health and the right to a healthy environment. In 2015, he joined environmental groups and advocates in intervening in a Canadian garbage dumping case at the Manila Regional Trial Court. In 2018, he led the filing of a petition for writ of mandamus at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, together with the late Laban Konsyumer president Vic Dimagiba, to press for the release of the long-delayed Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 10620.

Pineda is lying in repose at the Transfiguration of Christ Parish, Barangay San Roque, Antipolo City. Interment is set for February 24, 2026.