‘Gore visit must inspire Philippines to address climate issues’

MANILA, Philippines – The visit next month of former US vice president Al Gore, Climate Reality Project founder, should spur the government to squarely address numerous environmental issues facing the country, according to Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez.

“We don’t need another Yolanda to remind us of the urgent need to act,” he said. “Al Gore has been posing the challenge to nations worldwide to do their share in saving the planet, both individually and collectively.

“Let’s heed the call and do what needs to be done, even if just in our own backyard,” Romualdez, a member of the House special committee on climate change, said.

Romualdez said Gore has publicly declared many times that Super Typhoon Yolanda, which hit the country in November 2013, has taught the world about the dire climate crisis humanity is facing.

“Al Gore is an inspiration to governments all over the world. He talks the talk, he walks the walk in his global advocacy to save the planet,” he said.

Romualdez said “rhetoric and lip service will no longer suffice” in light of studies that showed that sea levels in the Philippines rise at five times the world rate and warn that storm surges could intensify as a result of global warming. 

The government must take the lead in transitioning to the use of clean energy as a matter of national survival, he added.

Romualdez said the administration must revisit its policy on the construction of coal-fired plants, which generate tons of greenhouse gases a year.

“It is disappointing that the President inaugurated a 300-megawatt coal-fired plant in Davao barely a month after committing to shift to clean energy,” he   said.

Romualdez said coal-fired plants are the biggest contributors to global warming.

A typical coal plant generates 3.5 million tons of carbon dioxide per year, he added.

In addition to a new coal plant inaugurated in Davao, the administration has scheduled the completion of 23 new coal plants in 2020, said Romualdez, who is running for the Senate in May.

Last December, Gore met with the Filipino delegation at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, France to show his deep concern for the Philippines and its environmental situation.

Leyte suffered the brunt of Typhoon Yolanda, which was among the strongest recorded storms in history.