United States (US) Democrat Senator Edward Markey has called Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda his ‘’climate twin".
Legarda made this revelation after she represented the Philippine Senate to a reception hosted by House Speaker Martin Romualdez to welcome the US Congressional Delegation (CODEL) headed by Markey.
Markey is considered a national leader on energy, climate change, and the environment.
The occasion, according to Legarda--an environment and climate change advocate--gave the opportunity to strengthen ties between the Philippines and the US.
It was an opportune time to discuss pressing issues such as the pandemic, threats to our planet’s health, the global economy, national security as well as public health, she said.
Legarda emphasized that she is glad that the US rejoined the Paris Agreement last year and expressed its intention to reach net zero emissions by 2050. The signing of the inflation reduction act by President Biden recently, the green new deal bill that Senator Markey has been passionately espousing are shared advocacies.
‘’In the Philippines, we have done our share in mitigating the effects of climate change through the passage of several laws such as the Climate Change Act and its amendatory law, the People’s Survival Fund,’’ she pointed out.
''I thank the US Delegation for this purposeful meeting which is also a refreshing change from having online or virtual meets. Yes, we were all masked!,’’ she added.
Markey led a US congressional delegation that recently went to Taipei on an unannounced two-day visit, the second US congressional delegation to Taiwan this month.
The new five-member delegation is visiting the self-governing island in an effort to "reaffirm the United States' support for Taiwan" and "will encourage stability and peace across the Taiwan Strait", a spokesperson for Markey said in a statement.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi drew the ire of China when she became the first US Speaker to visit Taiwan in 25 years.