On World Radio Day (February 13), Senator Loren Legarda highlighted the invaluable contributions of radio in disaster management.
Legarda, UNISDR Global Champion for Resilience and Chair of the Senate Committee on Climate Change, underscored the importance of radio in disseminating all types of information, be it news or disaster alerts, among the widest number of people especially those living in the rural and remote areas.
Alarmed by the imminent threat posed by the spread of the Zika virus, Senator Loren Legarda raised concerns that climate change may have fueled the outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease, which has been linked to birth defects and death of newborns in Latin America.
“As climate change alters rainfall patterns and brings deadly, intensified and frequent calamities, it will affect public health,” said Legarda, UNISDR Global Champion for Resilience and Chair of the Senate Committee on Climate Change.
Sen. Loren Legarda, principal author of the law and chair of the Senate committee on climate change, admitted that “we are still far from 100 percent compliance rate” even after 15 years since the law was passed.
“It was in 1998 as a first-term senator when I passed the act. It was in January 2001 when it was finally signed, and I thought as naive and optimistic as I was… I thought it was immediate overnight and magic,” said Legarda, who attended the ceremonial filing.
In 2001, Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management (ESWM) Act, a measure I authored, was signed into law. Since then, I have been advocating for every local government unit’s faithful compliance with this law.
Fifteen years have passed, yet, we are still far from 100 percent compliance rate of LGUs.
Senator Loren Legarda today renewed her call to local government units (LGUs) to implement Republic Act No. 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management (ESWM) Law, or face the legal consequences of non-compliance with the 15-year old law.
Legarda, principal author and sponsor of the law, made the statement in line with the ceremonial filing today of affidavit-complaints of the National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC) at the Office of the Ombudsman.
