The rampage by back-to-back typhoons Pedring and Quiel again highlighted what environmental groups, scientists and the international community have been saying for the longest time. We are most vulnerable. Yet, aside from its troubling poverty, the Philippines is terribly lagging behind in responding to the urgent mitigating and adaptation measures that climate change requires.
Scenes of poor and anxious compatriots in shelters, flooded homes and streets; wrecked boats of fisherfolk without which their livelihood and lives are destroyed, wasted farm produce and infrastructure and children having to die or suffer needlessly, won’t be erased with the exit of the typhoons. Urgent action is needed from the government to walk the talk towards a low carbon path.
So far, it has been all talk. The President still has to approve the National Climate Change Action Plan despite pleas from many sectors, including Greenpeace and Oxfam. Asean for a Fair, Ambitious and Binding Global Climate Deal points to “the Philippines’ unique position as being among the first countries to have a climate change commission, a National Climate Change Action Plan (NCCAP), and having its President’s have a direct role in the climate change body. The NCCAP has already gone through several rounds of consultations with various stakeholder groups, but has yet to be approved by the President.” (https://www.greenpeace.org/seasia/ph)
Instead, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it will bid out 10 more coal contracts while displaced families are cramped in evacuation centers, garbage is still strewn all over and massive flooding is still not dissipated. Obviously, the DOE still has to connect the dots. Coal is the biggest source of greenhouse gas that is causing climate change and its harmful effects. President Aquino and Secretary Almendras can perhaps request the eminent climatologist, Dr. James Hansen, to visit the country for enlightenment?
The programs, projects and policy directions still point to a “business-as-usual” mindset. Climate change and its horrendous impact is only remotely, if ever, considered in arriving at decisions, despite countless laws and memoranda to address poverty, human rights violations and the country’s targets under the Millennium Development Goals.
Two days after typhoon Pedring devastated Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon, lawmakers from the House of Representatives and the Senate agreed to lay the groundwork for another attempt at Charter Change. Charter, not climate change. Pastilan! Can we not even accept the fact that we, the people and the leaders, are the reason we seem to be drifting, as a nation? Why make the Constitution the scapegoat for our woes?
There are of course institutions which improved their capabilities in reaching out to the public. We trust Pagasa now in its forecast of the intensity and direction of storms. Some LGUs like Marikina City learned from the Ondoy experience and prepared contingency measures in alerting the constituents with a siren blaring for evacuation.
Yet, there is so much that needs to be done. It starts with genuine political will of national and local authorities to address climate change. LGUs should already craft a Local Climate Change Action Plan, arrived at through a genuine participatory process.
Poverty and climate change are deadly combinations that can turn a failing state like the Philippines into a failed one. We cannot allow this to happen. It is time to set aside politics, profits and personal comfort in the best interests of children and the future generations. We owe it to them. It is, in fact, long overdue.
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Congratulations to the University of Cebu (UC) College of Law Mooting Team for winning the 2011 National Moot Court Competition. UC will represent the Philippines in the Asia-Pacific regional competition to be held in Hong Kong in March 2012.
“This annual competition for law students in the Philippines is organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Philippine Red Cross, the Philippine Association of Law Schools and the Supreme Court. First held in 2005, the moot court competition aims to develop understanding of international humanitarian law among law students.
“The moot court contest began with only six schools but is now considered a prestigious event for law students, being the only moot court competition that holds its finals in the en banc session hall of the Supreme Court.” Associate Justice Lourdes Sereno chaired the board of judges for the final round.
A role-play challenge was also included among the “practical applications of the body of law that seeks to limit the effects of war”. Students acted as “humanitarian workers, military advisers and civilians in a fictitious armed-conflict situation.” (https://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/news-release/2011/philippines-news-2011-09-21.htm)
With 17 law schools vying for the awards aside from the championship trophy, UC College of Law brought home a golden harvest of awards, as follows:
Best Mooter – Final Rounds – Mr. Virgil Vallecera
1st Best Memorial, Respondent
4th Best Memorial, Applicant
Role Play Challenge Champion
1st Best Mooter, General Round – Mr. Virgil Vallecera
2nd Best Mooter, General Round – Mr. Manuel Elijah Sarausad
1st in Rank, Elimination Round
The researchers who did an excellent job were Gibran Abubakar, Merachelle Borracho, Fellain Ann Marquez, John Christopher Menguito, Kara Mae Noveda, Monique Paloma, Jo-ana Marie Desuyo and Kristine Athena Monsanto. The winners were ably coached by UC College of Law Professor, Cheryl A. Cabutihan.
The winning team acknowledges the inspiring and unwavering support of lawyer Augusto Go, Chancellor Candice Gotianuy, Dean Baldomero Estenzo and Assistant Dean Paulino Yabao and the members of the administrative staff, faculty and friends. Congratulations!