(FILE) Former Senator Loren Legarda (Photo from her Facebook account)
MANILA, Philippines — Deputy Speaker and senatorial candidate Loren Legarda on Wednesday said she would file a House resolution urging all presidential candidates to adopt a climate and environmental agenda. Speaking to reporters in a virtual interview, Legarda said climate change should be an issue in the 2022 national elections.
“I would like to see a candidate who will really espouse the climate agenda [which is currently] not in the national conversation,” she said.
As the Philippines tries to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, she said the country would need a leader who could “shepherd us out of the pandemic.”
“Health and jobs, in the middle of it all is climate. If you ignore the climate, you will not be successful in providing jobs,” she said. “So, I ask all our national candidates to lay out their climate agenda and what they have done in their lives for the environment or what they intend to do and can do. That would be ideal,” she added.
She said legislators should ensure that there were enough funds to implement existing environmental laws, like the Clean Air Act, Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, and Renewable Energy Act, among others.
“We must ensure that these laws are funded, implemented. So the strong oversight function of Congress is important,” she said.
Legarda pointed out that the government’s pandemic recovery must include ways to address climate change.
“Let us bring the issue of climate and environment in the national pandemic recovery,” she said.