The chair of the House special committee on climate change called for an end to “lip service” by the government on climate change, saying mere “rhetoric” would no longer suffice in dealing with the effects of global warming on the country.
Rep. Martin Romualdez, who is also running for senator, said the coming visit in March of former US Vice President Al Gore, a Nobel laureate for his work in fighting global warming, should spur the government into squarely addressing environmental issues facing the country.
“Mr. Gore has publicly declared many times before that Supertyphoon ‘Yolanda’ taught the world about the dire climate crisis we are facing,” said a statement quoting Romualdez, who hails from the so-called ground zero of Yolanda, Tacloban City.
Gore would be in the country on March 14-16 to train a new batch of “climate reality leaders” who would be in charge of educating their communities on the adverse effects of climate change and dependence on fossil fuels such as oil and coal.
Romualdez said it is time for action, not mere words, on climate change in light of studies showing that sea levels in the country rise five times the world rate as a result of global warming and that storm surges are likely to be more powerful.
The legislator and University of the Philippines-trained lawyer said Gore’s visit should serve as a wake-up call for Philippine leaders.
Romualdez’s home province of Leyte suffered the brunt of Yolanda, the strongest storm ever to make landfall. Yolanda left a trail of death and destruction, with 6,300 dead and half a million homeless. Rehabilitation work continues to this day.
“We don’t need another Yolanda to remind us of the urgent need to act,” said Romualdez.