Privilege Speech of Senator Loren Legarda on Climate Change | August 5, 2025

Mr. President, I rise on a matter of personal and collective privilege.

Tatlumpu’t walo. Hindi bababa sa bilang na ito ang mga buhay na nawala at hindi na maibabalik. Sa loob lamang ng dalawang linggo, tatlong bagyo—Crising, Dante, at Emong—ang sunod-sunod na nanalasa sa ating bansa. Walang pahingang bumulusok ang ulan, humagupit ang hangin, at inanod ang mga tahanan, kabuhayan, at pangarap.

Mahigit walong milyong Pilipino ang naapektuhan. Limampu’t limang libong tahanan ang nasira. At halos labintatlong bilyong piso na halaga ng imprastruktura at agrikultura ang nawalan ng saysay sa isang iglap.

Kaya sa araw na ito, simple lang ang tanong ko: Sino ang mananagot? Oo, totoo: palala nang palala ang epekto ng climate change. Pero mas nakakagulat na tila tinatanggap na lang natin ang ganitong trahedya. Na para bang normal na lang sa buhay ng Pilipino ang lumikas, ang lumubog, at ang mamatayan. Na bagyo ang may pangalan, pero ang pananagutan ay walang mukha. Kung ganun, hindi klima ang tunay na kalaban, kundi ang pagiging manhid.

Habang tayo’y lumulubog sa baha, isang makasaysayang pangyayari ang naganap sa kabilang dako ng mundo. Noong Hulyo 23, 2025, ang International Court of Justice—o ang pinakamataas na hukumang pandaigdig ng United Nations—ay naglabas ng isang Advisory Opinion na nagpapatibay sa matagal na nating panawagan: ang usaping klima ay hindi na pakiusap lamang, kundi malinaw na obligasyon sa ilalim ng batas internasyunal.

For the first time, the Court affirmed unequivocally that States have binding obligations under international law to prevent, reduce, and redress the adverse effects of climate change. The message is unmistakable: the age of climate action as a mere policy preference is over. Inaction is now a potential breach of international law.

And perhaps more importantly, all necessary measures to protect the climate system must be taken by States as a matter of human right, because climate change is not just an environmental emergency, but an existential human rights crisis.

Uulitin ko po: Ang usaping ito ay hindi lamang tungkol sa kalikasan, kundi karapatang pantao. At ito marahil ang pinakamasakit, Ginoong Pangulo: mas mababa sa 0.5% ang kontribusyon ng Pilipinas sa greenhouse gas emissions sa buong mundo. Ngunit sa loob ng apat na sunod-sunod na taon—mula 2021 hanggang 2024—tayo ang itinuring ng World Risk Report bilang pinaka disaster-prone na bansa. Tama ang narinig ninyo: tayo ang laging nasa unang hanay ng panganib. Tayo ang laging nawawalan ng tahanan, nahihinto ang pag-aaral, nagkakasakit, naglilibing, at nagluluksa. Sa bawat hampas ng bagyo, buhay at kinabukasan ng Pilipino ang kapalit.

Pero sa totoo lang, hindi tayo nagkulang sa paalala o nagpabaya sa tungkuling ito. Matagal na tayong kumikilos. Ipinasa natin, at naging karangalan kong ipaglaban—lalo na bilang Tagapangulo ng dating Senate Committee on Climate Change—ang Climate Change Act, People’s Survival Fund Act, Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act, Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System Act, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Renewable Energy Act, National Environmental Awareness and Education Act, pati na rin ang pagpapatibay sa mahahalagang pandaigdigang kasunduan tulad ng Paris Agreement, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Kyoto Protocol, at marami pang iba. Nakasaad rin sa Philippine Development Plan 2023–2028 ang climate action. Nangako tayo ng 75% GHG reduction by 2030 sa ating Nationally Determined Contribution. Inihain natin ang kauna-unahang National Adaptation Plan 2023–2050 at isinusulong ang lokalisasyon nito sa pamamagitan ng mga Local Climate Change Action Plans.

Pero hindi sapat ang tinta ng batas sa papel kung palpak ang pagpapatupad. Aanhin natin ang plano kung wala namang sumusunod? At lalong walang sapat na pondo ang pwedeng ilaan kung nilulusaw ito ng korapsyon.

Ginoong Pangulo, mas malupit pa sa bagyo ang sistemang paulit-ulit na nagpapalubha ng bawat delubyo. Hindi ito dapat maging normal. Hindi normal na kalikasan ang bumubuga ng unos, pero gobyerno ang nagpapalala ng pinsala. Kapabayaan, hindi bagyo, ang pumapatay!

Hindi pa man bumabagsak ang ulan, matagal nang bumagsak ang sistema—sa baradong kanal, kalbong kabundukan, kawalan ng matinong urban planning, substandard na imprastraktura, walang disiplina sa basura, at higit sa lahat, kawalan ng pananagutan.

Instead of meeting the force of storms with the strength of our systems, we meet disasters with dysfunction. And we should not be surprised by the result: a climate crisis colliding with bad governance. It is hypocritical for us to call on the world to act, even those contributing most to this crisis, if our own house is in disarray. We have to get our systems in order. And to do that, we must start spelling climate justice differently: as climate prosperity. Because our people deserve more than simply surviving the next typhoon, dapat silang makabangon, umasenso, at mamuhay nang may dignidad.

Mr. President, I have stood in this chamber since 1998, year after year, Congress after Congress, sounding the alarm. And still, I must repeat what has already been said countless times: climate change is a development crisis, a public health emergency, and a human rights catastrophe. We must act at the scale demanded by the crisis. We must fundamentally rethink our development—valuing our nation’s social, cultural, and natural capital—while aggressively building adaptive and low-carbon infrastructure.

Above all, we must put our people at the center. Climate action must be pro-poor, pro-women, pro-youth, and pro-indigenous. It must be guided not only by international law, but by climate justice, recognizing that those who contributed least must not suffer the most from its consequences.

And we are not alone. We have partners. I recently had the privilege of facilitating a dialogue between Philippine stakeholders and the 74-country intergovernmental alliance, which includes the Philippines, called the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) on the need to translate the country’s climate and development plans into real investments in renewable energy, resilient infrastructure, sustainable agriculture, and just transition initiatives.

The CVF’s flagship initiative—the Climate Prosperity Plan (CPP)—is a country-specific investment strategy based on macroeconomic modeling and long-term development goals that identifies funding needs, green industrial policies, and ways to attract the right investors and tools.

A Philippine Climate Prosperity Plan may well be the missing link between our climate ambition and implementation. Because to breathe life into a plan is to finance it.

I am pleased to learn that the Department of Finance (DOF) is already developing a Climate Prosperity Investment Memorandum, our CPP. I urge the DOF and CVF-V20 to work closely with local governments, all the way to our last-mile communities, to ensure this plan reflects real needs, viable business models, and inclusive prosperity.

Therefore, Mr. President, esteemed colleagues, I call on this body to decisively act across four critical areas:

1. Mobilize and monitor climate finance. We must accelerate legislation that strengthens our ability to access, track, and utilize climate funds with full transparency and accountability. Dapat may tapat at maayos na implementasyon sa ground, hindi lang magarang report.
2. Strengthen adaptation and local resilience. We need to fast-track the localization of climate action by supporting LGUs in updating and implementing their Local Climate Change Action Plans (LCCAPs), ensuring these are informed by the latest climate projections, risk assessments, and adaptation priorities identified in the Philippine National Adaptation Plan. These plans must be science-based, locally contextualized, and aligned with LGU investment plans to ensure relevance and funding support.

We must also ensure the full enforcement of critical environmental laws, starting with the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, which plays a vital role in reducing flood risks, improving public health, and protecting ecosystems through proper waste management and the clearing of drainage systems.

3. Drive low-carbon development. We must move with urgency to drive economy-wide climate action. This means fully supporting the Climate Change Commission in updating our Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) through a whole-of-government-and-nation approach, and ensuring that all development and investment plans are aligned with a just, low-carbon, and climate-resilient pathway.

Accelerating the transformation of our energy, transport, industry, and agriculture sectors is key to building a green economy. We must break down barriers and create strong incentives for renewables, green jobs, and climate-smart technologies.

4. Demand international accountability. We must enjoin the Department of Foreign Affairs, in coordination with the Climate Change Commission (CCC), to diplomatically invoke the ICJ Advisory Opinion across all international negotiations. This landmark opinion strengthens our legal and moral standing to demand scaled-up climate finance, technology access, and loss and damage support from high-emission countries and fossil fuel corporations. We must pursue every diplomatic and legal avenue to hold major polluters accountable and advance climate justice for the Filipino people.

In line with this, I filed this morning a Proposed Senate Resolution affirming the binding nature of international climate obligations and urging its national implementation in light of the ICJ Opinion.

Sa mga miyembro ng lupong ito, hindi na bago sa atin ang krisis na ito. Nauunawaan natin ang problema. Alam natin ang solusyon. At higit sa lahat, alam natin na nasa ating mga kamay at kapangyarihan ang paraan upang kumilos.

We must move faster, smarter, and more boldly than anyone else. We’re not starting from scratch: we have the institutions, and we have the laws. We simply need to make them work.

Hindi na ito tungo lamang sa susunod na henerasyon sapagkat ang dagok ng krisis ay naririto na at nadarama ng milyon-milyong mga Pilipino. Pero sa bawat tamang hakbang, tayo rin ang unang makikinabang.

Kaya’t tapos na ang tanong kung ano ang gagawin o kung kaya ba natin. Huhusgahan na lamang tayo sa pagkilos o sa kawalan nito.

Maraming salamat, at isang luntiang Pilipinas sa ating lahat!