MANILA – The Climate Change Commission (CCC) on Wednesday raised before members and officials of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) its call for urgent climate action.
In a news release, CCC Commissioner Albert Dela Cruz Sr. urged LMP members and officials to join the commission’s initiatives to achieve a policy for mitigation and adaptation to the impacts of climate change during the LMP national assembly held at the Manila Hotel.
Dela Cruz underscored the commission’s efforts to promote immediate climate change action, among them the just transition from the use of landfills to waste-to-energy (WtE) technologies, proposed local climate change action plan and partnership with the different LGUs across the country.
He also discussed the proper use of the People’s Survival Fund (PSF), which of late had triggered questions on its accessibility since its inception in 2012.
By virtue of Republic Act 10174 of 2012, the PSF was established to provide long stream finance for adaptation projects of local government units and local/community organizations aimed at increasing the resilience of communities and ecosystems to climate change.
Dela Cruz also tackled the advantages of utilizing WtE technologies to gradually replace the use of landfill as dumping sites for waste as this would curb the increase of greenhouse emissions that has been pointed at as one of the main reasons for climate change and global warming.
He mentioned the scheduled launching of the commission’s community deputization program which would initiate a unified effort to manage, conserve and protect the environment through volunteerism with the deputization of individuals and groups from both the public and private sectors that would augment the government’s manpower source to address climate change.
Earlier, Dela Cruz cited the significance of collaborative efforts between the citizenry and LGUs to ensure that immediate climate action would be implemented in a whole-of-nation and –community strategy to arrest the adverse impacts of the phenomenon, mainly seen and experienced in severe weather disturbances such as super typhoons and flashfloods.
The CCC’s call for unified action with the LGUs was warmly welcomed by the LMP assembly led by its national president La Paz, Abra Mayor Joseph Santo Niño “JB” Bernos who agreed that immediate climate action is important as it would help Filipino adapt to the impact of climate change in their daily lives.
Bearing the theme "Strengthening Municipal Capabilities Around Autonomy and Fostering Resiliency", the LMP 2023 General Assembly underscores the different challenges faced by Municipal Mayors, and the planned improvements in order to make service delivery more efficient in their localities.
The LMP is created by Section 496 of Republic Act No. 7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code of 1991.
It is mandated to “organize for the primary purpose of ventilating, articulating and crystallizing issues affecting municipal government administration, and securing, through proper and legal means, solutions thereto.” (PNA)
