Duterte sees no active advocacy vs climate change in Philippines

November 27, 2018

President Rodrigo Duterte has belittled the effort of various countries, including the Philippines, in addressing climate change.

Duterte made the remarks during the kick-off ceremony of the Davao City Bulk Water Supply Project on Monday.

"There’s a cry now in everywhere about the climate change but nobody seems to be compliant with it. I do not see any active advocacy that’s really being implemented in our country regarding climate change," he said.

Duterte also reiterated the seeming distortion or fractured setup on climate change where the big countries are the ones "spewing a lot (of) carbon dioxide or monoxide and footprints are everywhere."

"The carbon footprints can be found everywhere including Africa, there's no let-up because of the population itself," he added.

The Philippines is a signatory to 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement, which aims to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide by 2030.

When Duterte assumed office in 2016, it took almost a year before Manila ratified the deal as he was initially hesitant to do it due to non-participation of more industrialized countries.

In the same speech, Duterte also lamented Manila does not have a working sewer and sewerage.

"And that is why I can hardly see any improvement in the quality of life in Manila or maybe in the entire Philippines that we have sewer and sewerage system that is really working. So that's the difficulty of how to grapple with the problems," he added. Celerina Monte/DMS