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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Marcos has 'moral high ground' to be climate change champion--Villafuerte

Marcos has 'moral high ground' to be climate change champion--Villafuerte

Published Nov 20, 2022 02:59 pm

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has been championing the cause of nations reeling from the effects of climate change, and has the moral ascendancy to do so.

Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte (left) and President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (Facebook)

Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte gave this take Sunday, Nov. 20 right after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, which Marcos attended for the first first time as president.

“Mr. Marcos had strongly pushed for collective action from APEC’s 21 member-states on dealing with three urgent issues to hasten global recovery from Covid-19, and one of these concerns is climate change," noted Villafuerte, majority leader of the powerful Commission on Appointments (CA) in the House of Representatives.

He said the Chief Executive “has the moral high ground to champion climate action for all developing states that are reeling from the largely unbridled pollution caused mainly by the world’s richest countries like the US (United States) and China, given that he is President of our country that is regarded as one of the nations, if not the No. 1 nation, most vulnerable to worsening climate change hazards like killer typhoons, flash floods and prolonged dry spells".

During the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting (AELM) Retreat Session, in Bangkok, Thailand, President Marcos warned other heads--of-states that the world is now facing what he called “the greatest environmental challenges of all time” that require “strong, immediate and coordinated international action".

Villafuerte further tagged Marcos is the most ideal point person for the climate-action advocacy since rather than mope over the dismal failure of rich nations to come through on their pledge in 2009 to extend $100-billion worth of annual financial aid by 2020 to developing states, “The Philippines...is pursuing a bold and ambitious agenda on climate action despite anemic financial support from the developed world for high-risk countries to cut their carbon footprint.”

Villafuerte was referring to Manila’s commitment, as bared by the Philippine delegation in last year’s United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland to a projected greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction and avoidance of 75 percent over the 2020 to 2030 period for the agriculture, wastes, industry, transport and energy sectors.

The Bicol solon said that another plus for the Philippines being at the forefront of climate action under the Marcos presidency is the present government’s concrete steps on decarbonization, specifically on weaning the country away from the use of fossil fuel for energy generation in favor of renewables like solar and wind power.

An average of 20 major storms hit the Philippines a year, with 2013's typhoon "Yolanda" (international name: Haiyan)---one of the most powerful storms ever recorded--believed to have been aggravated by climate change.

Related Tags

Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos jr. Moral APEC Champion 112022 ascendancy high ground lray villafuerte Climate change
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