Senator Loren Legarda has urged her fellow parliamentarians from countries that are most vulnerable to climate change impacts to immediately ratify the Paris Agreement.
In her capacity as the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction’s Global Champion for Resilience and Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Climate Change, Legarda wrote parliamentarians of member countries of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), which collectively represents one billion people highly vulnerable to climate change impacts, encouraging them to sign and ratify the Paris Agreement as soon as possible for its early entry into force.
Senator Loren Legarda today said that Filipinos should expect a rise in hotter days and consistently hotter years because of climate change.
Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on Climate Change, made the statement following reports that the heat index in the past days has reached danger levels.
Senator Loren Legarda called for this separate Senate inquiry in Manila in her capacity as chairperson of both the Senate committees on finance and climate change. Legarda looked into the Kidapawan protest staged by El Niño-affected farmers and fisher folks that was reportedly infiltrated by left-leaning militants who instigated trouble. Reports reaching Manila have it that farmers and fisher folks were promised sacks of rice for their starving families following the long drought that damaged their rice and corn crops.
GOVERNMENT agencies have around P50 billion in funds that could be used to mitigate hunger in Kidapawan and other places hit by the El Niño dry spell, noted Sen. Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate committees on Finance and Climate Change on Friday.
“You are awash in cash. Why don’t you give it to the people who need it the most? Why is it not being spent? Why do farmers have to go hungry and get killed while demanding help?” Legarda asked a panel of agriculture and economic planning officials.
Senator Loren Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committees on Finance and Climate Change, today said that the government must utilize available funds to mitigate and adapt to the El Niño phenomenon, stressing that this should have already been done since the government has been sufficiently warned by the state weather bureau since 2014.
Legarda made the statement in a Senate briefing on Friday, April 8, about how the government has disbursed and used public funds allocated for mitigation and adaptation to the impacts of El Niño phenomenon.
