FILE PHOTO: A view of Baguio City, considered the most vulnerable to climate change among four cities outside the National Capital Region due to its vulnerability to extreme weather events, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature-Philippines, which did a study years ago. INQUIRER
MANILA, Philippines — The issue of climate change, especially after devastating floods in several parts of Europe, should be part of the 2022 national elections agenda, senators said Monday.
Senator Panfilo Lacson said the recent flooding in Europe—which has claimed the lives of nearly 200 people—only proves that the impact of global warming and climate change is real.
“That being said, no nation can do it alone. It is time for the community of nations to really take this issue very seriously. The Earth can only take so much abuse, cruelty, and punishment from man,” he said.
“If we still cannot see some obvious acts of revenge from Mother Nature, we may wake up one day personally witnessing her fury upon us, one way or the other,” he added.
Lacson, who has expressed considering running for president in the 2022 elections, said the issue has been consistently brought up in his consultations with various local government units. Lacson and potential running mate and vice-presidential candidate Senate President Vicente Sotto III have launched a provincial tour recently in a bid to determine the pulse of local government units on various social and political issues.
For Senator Risa Hontiveros, candidates for the 2022 elections should lay down their programs for climate change mitigation since the government does not have enough programs to address it.
“There has been a loud global outcry over climate change in recent years, and many young people are demanding that people in power use their positions to definitively tackle environmental issues that affect our daily lives,” she said.
“It is only right that the Filipino public look for candidates who can lay down programs and strategies that can help mitigate the effects of climate change in our country,” she added.
Hontiveros pointed out that the flooding situation in Europe is not new to the Philippines, which is a country prone to typhoons and flash floods.
“Our government should certainly prepare and implement programs on how best we can confront natural disasters. The floods in Europe need not happen for us to do this,” she said in a statement.
“Our own experience of almost yearly typhoons and flash floods in the Philippines should already oblige us to set protocols, systems, and practices that must save our environment, and in effect, save lives,” she also said.
Senator Imee Marcos, meanwhile, said the public must demand a climate change agenda from candidates in next year’s polls.
“While the Philippines is a signatory of the 2015 Paris Agreement, the reality is we have not delivered on our promises and commitments,” she said.
“While the whole world has embarked on deep decarbonization, in the Philippines we are recklessly pushing forward with new coal plants whose carbon emissions will push global temperatures beyond the 1.5 degrees tolerated by human life,” she further said.