Responding with one voice to a most pressing call

(Speech at LGU Summit on Global Warming and Climate Change, Nov. 26, 2013)

I thank the Climate Change Commission for organizing this summit and bringing all of us together to respond with one voice to a most pressing call. We are all keenly aware that the dangers posed by global warming are real, but I think we can all agree that we wished our gathering was not heralded by the very threats it seeks to address.

In the past weeks, we have come to view the name Yolanda in a different light. The super typhoon that bore this name was unlike any other that modern man has had to endure. Sustained winds of 270 kph, gusts of up to 312 kph, and a storm surge as high as 7 meters, unleashed a devastation of appalling proportions. It laid to waste everything along its path: houses and buildings were torn down; trees were uprooted; and the lives of so many people took the most unfortunate of turns.

 We cannot begin to realize the depths of the human suffering left in the wake of Yolanda, even as television showed us the survivors who continue to look for their loved ones amidst the rubble and the dead that lay along roadsides and wreckage. The toll Yolanda exacted is beyond what any heart can bear for to lose one Filipino is already too great a cost. To see thousands perish unleashes the endless tears of the entire Filipino nation. We grieve and continue to do so, but our sorrow cannot impede our sacred fraternal duty to bring aid to those who survived this apocalypse and remain in urgent need of help.

Our government has mobilized its resources to extend relief and rehabilitation efforts to the affected provinces of Palawan, Aklan, Capiz, Iloilo, Cebu, and most especially, the provinces of Samar and Leyte. We realize that the pace of efforts could be better and faster and fortunately, we have not had to stand alone during these trying weeks.

Help from other countries continues to pour in. We cannot begin to express our gratitude to the friends who have rushed to our aid when we most needed it. With each day, more food packages are unloaded from ships and cargo planes, and delivered to more and more victims; a swelling mass of medical personnel attend to the wounded and sick; increasing amounts of heavy equipment are being employed to clear roads of debris and other obstacles. We are moving as fast as time and motion allow, and we continue to seek ways to render our relief efforts more efficient.

As we slowly try to rise from this harsh ordeal, we must now look forward and plot how we can avoid or prevent such unspeakable losses from happening again.

 Many say that Yolanda’s strength is a direct consequence of global warming. Scientific experts explained that it was the rising sea temperature that gave fuel to the energy that it unleashed on the ground.

The immediate questions before us are how we can prevent or abate global warming, and how we can address the destructive impact of climate change. The quest to answer these questions is what sees all of us converge at this summit today.

This week also marks our observance of Global Warming and Climate Change Consciousness Week, as mandated by Proclamation 1667 issued on November 2008. The proclamation tasked the Climate Change Commission to spearhead this annual observance, and enjoined all government agencies and instrumentalities, as well as the private sector and other stakeholders to undertake or collaborate in various activities that will address the impact of climate change.

To this end, the national government has crafted the National Climate Change Action Plan or NCCAP in accordance with the National Strategic Framework on Climate Change, to serve as our roadmap in combating this threat. However, this is merely a good beginning that demands an even better mesh of implementation.

 For this reason, while we need to plan in accordance with the NCCAP, it is more important that we act decisively and compellingly. Our plans cannot be crafted with merely the broadest of strokes. It is vital that they be distilled to consider the intricacies and peculiarities of the various communities, if they are to be truly responsive and resilient. A thorough degree of local planning will insure that we are better prepared for whatever nature may send our way.      

This duty is enshrined in law. The Climate Change Act of 2009 as amended by the People’s Survival Fund law mandates our local governments to prepare their own local climate change actions plans. Fully aware that not all LGUs will have the expertise needed to complete this crucial requirement, the Climate Change Commission exists to provide the needed technical assistance to formulate local climate change action plans. It is my understanding that the Commission has already started working with some LGUs with very good results obtained, and I hope that all of you will soon have your own plans finalized and implemented.   

This summit is also one of our most effective forums for different stakeholders to share their initiatives, experiences and best practices in addressing the realities and consequences of climate change. This morning, under the battle cry of, â€œI plan. I act.”, around 1,000 leaders and climate change adaptation  and disaster risk reduction practitioners from the local level are here to share their experiences in planning and implementation of programs towards realizing climate resilient communities. Today, we shall hear not just sound theories but more importantly, real successes of LGUs and communities in terms of “planning and acting,”given the tools, methodologies and resources available.        

In the strongest terms possible, I encourage and implore you to take full advantage of this opportunity. Learn as much as you can about how you can better prepare your community and our people against the ravages of nature that stand to grow fiercer in the coming years. Use every bit of wisdom you can take away from this summit to forge local climate change action plans that will build on your strengths and allow you to build more capabilities with the passage of time. This is not just about the environment or our desire to inhabit a clean and tranquil planet. It is about the lives of our countrymen, our children and our grandchildren. It is the future of our posterity and the whole of humanity that lies in the balance.

We come together as one and I pray that when this summit concludes, we shall move and act in unity. We cannot stop storms from travelling through our land, but if we faithfully discharge our duties, we can insure that fewer families are claimed by the four winds. We have already taken the first noble step. Let us see this journey to its timely conclusion.

I thank all of you for being here and I look forward to seeing your hands reshape our communities.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!

Mabuhay tayong lahat!