No joke: Duterte dead serious on climate deal OK

President Duterte remains dead serious in upholding the landmark Paris agreement on climate change after previously dismissing it as “stupid” and “absurd,” presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said on Tuesday.

Abella said there was no reason for the Chief Executive to take the issue lightly, pointing out that the President had actively participated in the discussions of the Cabinet regarding the international treaty.

“Why should he be joking about that?” Abella told a press briefing with a wry smile.

“Yes, of course,” he replied when asked if Mr. Duterte was serious in honoring the climate change pact. “Implicitly, he does agree (with the agreement) as he said so.”

On Monday, the President told reporters he would support the ratification of the Paris covenant despite his apprehension that it would only drag the country’s economic development.

Mr. Duterte, who has gained notoriety for flip-flopping on his policy statements, said he changed his mind after members of his Cabinet voted unanimously to support it following

a lengthy debate.  Journalists have been advised to learn to discern the president’s serious statements from those he had said in jest.

“After so much debate, I will sign the climate change agreement,” the President said. He had earlier said he would not honor the agreement,  calling it an “absurd” and “stupid” arrangement which would only benefit the industrially advanced countries.

Concerns

Abella on Tuesday said the President was very particular about the issue of “climate justice” and the sanctions to be imposed upon noncompliant nations during the Cabinet meeting.

“There were certain things he was concerned about like the sanctions to be taken…because the agreement was supposed to be binding. So he wanted clarification regarding that,” he said.

“(He) warned that although the agreement is a binding treaty, it does have sanctions to hold countries accountable. He said bigger and industrialized nations could violate it and at the same time, could not be forced to pay for damages,” he said.

Abella said the President also lamented the fact that the so-called “climate fund” would not be used to indemnify climate-vulnerable countries for the damages wrought by natural disasters linked to climate change.

He said Environment Secretary Gina Lopez, who flew to Morocco to attend the 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Marrakech, laid out the arguments why the Duterte administration should respect the climate change pact.

The Philippines was among some 200 countries which adopted the covenant, which sought to limit carbon emissions worldwide in the advent of destructive weather disturbances, after participating in the 21st Conference of the Parties held in France in December 2015.

Mr. Duterte and Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. voiced their opposition to it.

Sen. Loren Legarda, chair of the committee on climate change, welcomed the president’s statement and said she would work toward efforts at getting the deal enforced.

“I thank the President for declaring that he will ratify the Paris Agreement. I thank the members of the Cabinet, too, for seeing the importance of upholding the treaty,” she said.

She said the president’s commitment was especially significant as the country marked the third anniversary of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan), which serves to illustrate the deadly effects of climate change.

The climate fund gives disaster-prone nations access to an annual $100-million fund obligated to be pooled together by developed countries to support their climate change initiatives. —WITH A REPORT FROM TARRA QUISMUNDO