Putting climate change body under proposed department may limit its role, says official

The suggestion to put the Climate Change Commission (CCC) under the proposed Disaster Resilience Department will water down its role in addressing the issues on climate change in the Philippines, an official said on Tuesday.

“It may limit the work of the Climate Change Commission within the context of the mission of that agency,” CCC executive director Emmanuel De Guzman said in an ambush interview.

“That will be detrimental to the nation because there wil be other aspects of cliamte change adaptation and mitigation measures, especially our low-carbon development efforts, that will not be attended to adequately because there will be no lead agency,” he added.

De Guzman emphasized that the CCC, established by virtue of the Climate Change Act of 2009, focuses on other priority aspects of climate change such as food security, water sufficiency, human security, climate smart industries, and sustainable energy.

“Bilang policy oversight agency, ang Climate Change Commision ay nakikipag-ugnayan sa lahat ng ahensya at sa lahat ng sektor at hindi mo malilimitahan ang trabaho ng Climate Change Commission sa larangan lamang ng disaster or disaster resilience,” De Guzman said.

“Climate change adaptation is much much bigger or broader than disaster risk reduction. Disaster risk reduction is just the first step to adaptation,” he added.

According to De Guzman, strong cooperation between the CCC and all concerned government agency would be the best move towards addressing disaster risks in the Philippines without compromising the efforts for climate change adaptation and mitigation.

“Ang kailangan natin ay strong convergence ng Climate Change Commission at other agencies including the proposed Disaster Resilience Department,” he said.

During his previous State of the Nation Address, President Rodrigo Duterte urged Congress to create a government agency that would handle disaster issues in the country.

"Disasters are poverty creators that is why we have to hasten the establishment of the Department of Disaster Resilience so that this department focuses on natural hazards and climate change," Duterte said.

National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council executive director Ricardo Jalad, on the other hand, recently expressed apprehension on the creation of such department because its functions are “very overwhelming.” —LDF, GMA News