Creation of climate change cluster in Cabinet cheered

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile has lauded the move by President Benigno Aquino III to include climate change among the top five issues that will require coordinated action and budgetary intervention from the Palace.

Apart from climate change, other priority issues named in the EO were anticorruption, peace, economic development and poverty reduction.

“The President has displayed responsive leadership by elevating climate change into a priority issue. A few more tweaks in the plan are still needed but we’re almost there. The climate crisis requires decisive action that utilizes public finance to protect vulnerable Filipino communities from the worst impacts of climate change,” Enrile said in a press statement.

Malacañang announced on May 16 the issuance of Executive Order No. 43, which reorganized cabinet clusters based on priority issues that advance what the Aquino administration calls its “social contract with the Filipino people.”

Enrile is the author of Senate Bill 2558, a landmark measure seeking to establish the People’s Survival Fund, or the PSF, for local governments and communities. The PSF provides incentives for early climate action from localities, which can tap the fund to support local climate adaptation plans, vulnerability assessments and similar initiatives.

The PSF can be used by localities threatened by persistent flooding, coastal communities facing rising sea levels, or LGUs seeking to promote agricultural programs resilient to extreme temperatures and changing rainfall.