NEWS

Climate Change Commission Secretary and Vice-Chair Mary Ann Lucille L. Sering urged local government units to come up with programs that would help their communities adapt to the effects of climate change. 

With Sering’s call came the assurance that the national government has set aside funds under the People’s Survival Fund to help local governments defray the cost of such programs other than disaster risk reduction and management. 

The fund is provided for under Republic Act No. 10174 which mandates the government to implement local climate change action plans and make communities more resilient to climate-induced disasters. Specifically, the fund, which would be appropriated annually, would be used for the management of water resources, land, agriculture and fisheries, health, infrastructure development, and natural ecosystems. 

Speaking at the signing July 8 here of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that launched Project Re BUILD for Jalaur River Basin in Iloilo, Sering urged local governments to avail of the Fund after noting not a single local government has had a local climate change plan in place that is based on an assessment of its vulnerability to climate change, which would have been the basis for availing of the Fund. 

“Meron na tayong pondo (an unprogrammed fund of P500 million), kulang ang absorptive capacity,” said Sering at the event. (We now have the fund, but there’s a lack of absorptive capacity, referring to non-availment of the fund by LGUs). 

The CCC, she said, is hopeful that the fund would be used as a potential guide to LGUs in long-term planning on climate change adaptation because a well-defined plan can also encourage investment since it would lessen the cost of doing business. 

"We have to move faster in this regard," she said, referring to local governments. 

“What we’re bringing in is not something new but is more of improving what you have right now based on science and expertise," she added. 

She cited the experience of her own disaster-prone community in Surigao del Norte, which she said is now resilient after experiencing and learning lessons on how to cope with the adverse effects of natural disasters especially typhoon “Sendong” in 2011 which included timely early warning and ample preparation. 

Project ReBUILD is a joint project of the CCC and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with the New Zealand Aid Progammeas funding agency. The 3-year project is designed to increase the capacities of communities surrounding the Jalaur River System in Iloilo to manage disaster risks from and adapt to the overall impacts of climate change towards resilience and sustainable development. 

The MOU was signed by Sering, Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor, New Zealand Ambassador Reuben Levermore, and UNDP Country Director in the Philippines Toshihiro Tanaka. (JCM/JSC-PIA6)