Lawmakers hopeful Duterte will support Paris Agreement

Philippine congress (Malacanang stock photo)

Members of the House special committee on climate change are willing to do their share in convincing President Rodrigo Duterte to adopt the Paris Agreement on Climate Change after authorities from concerned agencies and non-government organizations (NGOs) explained to the lawmakers the benefits of the treaty to the country.

Members of the panel chaired by Rep. Rodel M. Batocabe (Party-list, Ako Bicol) took this position during a hearing held prior to the congressional break on the Paris Agreement and the various climate change issues facing the country.

The committee members said they were willing to present to the President the benefits of the Paris Agreement to the country.

The committee held a hearing on the climate change treaty on the basis of House Resolution 103 filed by Rep. Carlos Isagani T. Zarate (Party-list, Bayan Muna) which concurs with the President’s reluctance to ratify the Paris agreement.

Zarate’s sponsorship speech was read by Rep. Emmi de Jesus (Party-list, Gabriela) during the hearing. He raised the demand for climate justice and for industrialized countries like China, the U.S. and Japan, which he said are responsible for the degradation of the environment, “to cut down on their emissions drastically and not demand this from poorer countries.”

“The COP 21 failed the people of the world in negotiating for a climate agreement that would step on the brakes before we find ourselves in a catastrophic climate shift,” said Zarate. He further said that an independent foreign policy, the suspension of mining corporations and a critical view of the Paris Accord are some policy directives that must be supported and reinforced.

Rep. Gil P. Acosta (3rd District, Palawan) asked the Climate Change Commission (CCC) if they presented their position to President Duterte since the chief executive had on several occasions expressed his rejection of the agreement.

Rep. Prospero A. Pichay. Jr. (1st District, Surigao del Sur) said it is his understanding that the President’s pronouncement was made with the view that the Paris agreement will hamper the economic growth of the country.

“I think we know that the President is reasonable. If we can explain properly to him that we will be allowed to put up coal-fired power plants, then I’m sure that he will change his stance,” said Pichay.

Pichay said the CCC should also clarify and prove to the President otherwise. “Like the Kyoto Protocol agreement, to which the country is party to, the Philippines might also benefit from the Paris Climate Change Agreement by providing the country a venue where developing countries can carry out their programs to help vulnerable countries and gain their carbon credits,” said Pichay.

Officials of the CCC informed the committee that they have been sending constant updates to the President through Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea. They also said Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco convened an inter-agency meeting to discuss the Paris Agreement.

Secretary Emmanuel de Guzman, CCC vice-chairman, explained that the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, signed by 197 party nations, is a product of two decades of debates and negotiations. “It is only voluntary in nature and undertaken by each party to contribute solutions based on its capacity,” he said.

De Guzman clarified that the Philippines’ participation to reduce carbon emissions by 2030 is purely voluntary and only under the condition that mitigation efforts will be pursued if developed countries will invest on it. Moreover, the entire contribution target may also be modified into a final submission called the “nationally-determined contribution” through multi-stakeholder consultations according to him.

During the COP 21 negotiations, de Guzman said the Philippines was the one which championed the limiting of the global temperature rise to 1.5˚ Celsius, the enshrining of climate justice and human rights, and ensuring ecosystem integrity, among many others, which now became an integral part of the Paris Agreement preamble.

De Guzman stressed that contrary to the President’s fears, the agreement will not impede the country’s economic growth.

“The agreement defines climate justice as giving greater burden on developed countries–as likewise articulated by the President–to do more and to act swiftly in reducing carbon emissions, since they are the ones heavily contributing to the temperature rise and help developing countries like the Philippines in their adaptation and mitigation efforts,” said de Guzman.

He said among the agencies which submitted their certificate of concurrence to the ratification of the agreement are the National Security Council (NSC), Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Health (DOH), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of National Defense (DND), the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA).

And just recently, de Guzman said no less than Secretary Fortunato dela Peña of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) expressed concurrence to the agreement.

“Secretary Dela Peña is willing to prepare a briefer for the President to explain the benefits and advantages of the ratification,” said de Guzman.

Members of the committee also asked the CCC about its proposed mitigation programs and the utilization of the P1-Billion per year People’s Survival Fund (PSF).

Rep. Estrellita B. Suansing (1st District, Nueva Ecija), chairperson of the committee on ecology, said the CCC should have clear guidelines and ease up on the processes to make the fund easily accessible to local government units (LGUs) which desperately need it.

Batocabe said he and his fellow Bicolano committee members are particularly interested in the climate change topic because their areas are usually on the receiving end of the harmful effects of climate change. He said mitigation and adaptation measures are necessary to combat the effects of climate change.

De Guzman presented in detail the devastation the country would be facing if the people’s destructive practices and carbon emissions would go unabated. He cited some disasters over the past decades, such as the 1990s dry spell, the Guinsaugon tragedy, Ondoy typhoon, and super-typhoon Yolanda, which claimed thousands of lives and billions of pesos in socio-economic losses, as among its many effects.

“These were the effects of only below 1˚ Celsius level of global warming, while the scientific community predicts the entire world would experience around 4-6˚ Celsius by the end of the century if nations won’t do anything to stop it. This is expected to give rise to harsher droughts, super typhoons, killer landslides, alarming rise in sea levels, fast degrading coral reefs, and many more,” said de Guzman.