House panel adopts resolution declaring ‘disaster and climate emergency’ in PH

MANILA, Philippines — A committee in the House of Representatives adopted Tuesday a resolution expressing the will of the lower chamber for the declaration of a disaster and climate emergency in the country.

During its meeting, the House Committee on Disaster Resilience adopted House Resolution No. 535, authored by Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, which pushes for a whole-of-government, whole-of-society and whole-of-nation policy response as the Philippines faces a disaster and climate emergency.

The resolution points out that despite having established national agencies such as the Climate Change Commission and the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council, the country continues to grapple with institutional issues on climate and disaster governance.

“There is an urgent need to address this problem to ensure climate justice for current and future generations of Filipinos and ensure their survival in the face of projected adverse impacts of climate change and disasters, and also ensure that the Philippine government has learned the past decade’s mistakes, making sure not to repeat them by being proactive in changing the present practice of our current climate change adaptation and mitigation and disaster risk reduction efforts through legislation,” the resolution states.

Further, the resolution states that the House resolves to:

• Declare 2020 as a Disaster and Climate Emergency awareness year;
• Conduct continuous inquiries in aid of legislation and in relation to its oversight functions, on measures being implemented by all concerned national agencies to address the impacts of disasters and climate change on the fundamental rights of Filipinos;
• Ensure the full integration and convergence of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts through the passage of the Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR) bill; and
• Enjoin a whole-of-government, whole-of-nation, and whole-of-society mobilization on disaster and climate emergency.

The resolution states that the House should also ensure that all national and local governmental budget allocations and expenditures are climate and disaster responsive.

The Philippines was recently hit by consecutive typhoons that brought flooding in various areas in the country.

In fact, the lower chamber began on Tuesday morning its probe on the flooding in Cagayan and Isabela due to Typhoon Ulysses.

JE