P1 B allotted for People’s Survival Fund

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga, Philippines – Amid uncertainties posed by climate change worldwide, the creation of a People’s Survival Fund (PSF) that will get a P1-billion budget yearly looms, after the congressional bicameral committee ironed out the law for it before Congress recessed.

Sen. Loren Legarda, chairperson of the Senate committee on climate change and one of the authors of Senate Bill 2811 proposing such fund, said at a press conference here that she expected President Aquino to sign the law when he arrives from the US.

“It will provide the seed capital as the sister law of the Climate Change Act of 2009,” Legarda told local media after speaking before government officials from various parts of Central Luzon during a regional forum on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction.

Legarda said the bicameral committee ironed out the final version of the PSF bill which she, along with Senate Pres.

Juan Ponce Enrile, Sens. Ralph Recto, Franklin Drilon, and Lito Lapid pushed in the Senate. The Lower House version was authored by Rep. Lorenzo Tañada III.

The Senate version was passed way back in December last year. Under the bill, some P1 billion shall be used for the fund under the General Appropriations Act (GAA). This will be to improve the country’s forecasting and early warning systems against climate change-related hazards. It shall also improve the monitoring and prevention of diseases triggered by climate change.

Legarda said the fund will also be managed by the People’s Survival Fund Board headed by a commissioner and representatives from the Climate Change Commission, and representatives from the Department of Finance, Department of Budget and Management, National Economic and Development Authority, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, government financial institutions, business sector and non-government organizations.

The board, she said, will also approve project proposals submitted by local government units and community-based institutions for funding. “The PSF bill will help achieve the objectives of the Climate Change Act of 2009 by providing funds to local governments and communities to support their adaptation activities,” she added. –Ding Cervantes (The Philippine Star)