Climate Change Commission protests budget cut by DBM

MANILA, Philippines – Officials lamented that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) allocated only P38.8 million to the 2011 budget of the Climate Change Commission (CCC).

CCC vice chairman Secretary Heherson Alvarez said the proposed budget of the commission is less than 10 percent of the almost P400-million budget earmarked by the Department of Health for the purchase of contraceptives.

The DBM cut the budget of the CCC from the commission’s requested budget of P195 million.

“Its (commission’s) task is daunting, it has to address a global problem and mainstream its effects to the local communities in terms of adaptation and mitigation programs, on how local folks can have a better understanding and therefore cope with the adverse effects of changing climate,” Alvarez said.

Alvarez stressed that the CCC is a national office that addresses the impact of global warming nationwide, hence, “financing is vital and we require a budget that could cope with the challenges of climate change.”

The commission has been operating on very lean funding since Republic Act 9729, otherwise known as the Climate Change Act of 2009, took effect on Nov. 25, 2009.

The House of Representatives approved in plenary session last Tuesday the commission’s proposed budget but some congressmen saw the need to allocate more funds.

The Philippines is vulnerable to the impacts of global warming like floods, droughts and rising sea levels and these are key issues that the Commission is tasked to address.

The CCC is the sole coordinating center and policy making body of the government on climate change tasked to coordinate, monitor and evaluate the programs and action plans relating to climate change.

“Viewed from this perspective, the commission has one of the most numerous and challenging responsibilities among government agencies in the country,” Alvarez said during the budget hearings.

The CCC had submitted the National Framework Strategy on Climate Change to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that allowed the Philippines to gain access to the fast start finance to support programs until 2012 of developing countries.

The agency is working on the National Climate Change Action Plan that will guide local government units in effectively addressing the impact of global warming.

The CCC budget is up for Senate deliberations upon resumption of session in November. –Rhodina Villanueva (The Philippine Star)