Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Legarda Urges Protection, Revival Of Displaced Pinoys
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Loren: Implement Climate Change Act nationwide, now!
ISULAN, Sultan Kudarat (Nov. 11) –Senator Loren Legarda today urged the immediate implementation nationwide of the 2009 Climate Change Act, including IN THOSE areas in Mindanao threatened by natural disasters.
The chair of the Senate Climate Change Oversight Committee, Loren issued the statement in keynoting the National Conference on Climate Change Adaptation in Watershed Context organized by the Philippine Watershed Management Coalition.
The senator stressed that the conference’s theme highlights the multifarious environmental challenges the country is facing because of climate change.
“One such challenge is on our watersheds. With climate change, exacerbated poverty, weak policies, deforestation, urbanization and industrialization, extreme whether events, temperature rise and excessive rainfall are expected to happen,” said Loren.
“Monsoon rains alone account for more than 60 percent of the total rainfall in the country and is associated with high intensity rains which are responsible for most of the soil erosion and sedimentation problems in the watershed. These cause changes in our land cover and water quantity, quality and demand.”
While typhoons Ondoy, Pepeng and Santi had raised calls for the immediate implementation of the recently enacted Climate Change Act in Luzon, Loren said that the law must also be IMPLEMENTED immediately in many areas of the country, including Sultan Kudarat, where poverty had been aggravated by the flash floods and massive soil erosion along the riverbanks in 2008.
She said that torrential rains easily caused the thinning of the tree cover in the mountainous areas of the Allah Valley and the subsequent overflow of the Allah River, a disaster that flooded farmlands and affected the livelihoods.
“I think the lack of a comprehensive national attention and action on that disaster is one of the reasons this conference is so important. Our experts and local government leaders are on the front lines in our efforts to safeguard our country’s watersheds. With you, we can give people who are suffering the impact of climate change but have largely been unnoticed the chance to make their voices heard all the way to the national government and to various international fora.”
Principally authored by Loren, the Climate Change Act incorporates climate change concerns, measures and actions, as well as disaster-risk reduction programs into government policies, programs and budgeting.
It creates a Climate Change Commission which will oversee all climate change related measures undertaken in the country, while seeking to empower local government units (LGUs) on climate change initiatives and disaster-risk reduction, LGUs being the first responders to disasters like those resulting from strong typhoons, floods, landslides and earthquakes.
“A basic premise of this legislation is that locally-designed initiatives can provide an effective way to achieve local, national and global sustainability objectives. It is my objective to put all local governments on top of the global climate agenda and send a message to our national leaders that climate change compels no less than a nationally coordinated action,” Loren said.
“With the Climate Change Act, we have moved to adaptation plans. The theme of this conference is appropriate because it emphasizes and recognizes that a key solution to the problems being spawned by climate change is adaptation. And in the watershed context as well as in other areas necessitating climate change action, adaptation requires putting all communities at the heart of the relevant programs and policies and gathering collective action that is rooted in a sense of solidarity and shared responsibility.”
Source: http://www.lorenlegarda.com.ph/article-1257912537.html
The chair of the Senate Climate Change Oversight Committee, Loren issued the statement in keynoting the National Conference on Climate Change Adaptation in Watershed Context organized by the Philippine Watershed Management Coalition.
The senator stressed that the conference’s theme highlights the multifarious environmental challenges the country is facing because of climate change.
“One such challenge is on our watersheds. With climate change, exacerbated poverty, weak policies, deforestation, urbanization and industrialization, extreme whether events, temperature rise and excessive rainfall are expected to happen,” said Loren.
“Monsoon rains alone account for more than 60 percent of the total rainfall in the country and is associated with high intensity rains which are responsible for most of the soil erosion and sedimentation problems in the watershed. These cause changes in our land cover and water quantity, quality and demand.”
While typhoons Ondoy, Pepeng and Santi had raised calls for the immediate implementation of the recently enacted Climate Change Act in Luzon, Loren said that the law must also be IMPLEMENTED immediately in many areas of the country, including Sultan Kudarat, where poverty had been aggravated by the flash floods and massive soil erosion along the riverbanks in 2008.
She said that torrential rains easily caused the thinning of the tree cover in the mountainous areas of the Allah Valley and the subsequent overflow of the Allah River, a disaster that flooded farmlands and affected the livelihoods.
“I think the lack of a comprehensive national attention and action on that disaster is one of the reasons this conference is so important. Our experts and local government leaders are on the front lines in our efforts to safeguard our country’s watersheds. With you, we can give people who are suffering the impact of climate change but have largely been unnoticed the chance to make their voices heard all the way to the national government and to various international fora.”
Principally authored by Loren, the Climate Change Act incorporates climate change concerns, measures and actions, as well as disaster-risk reduction programs into government policies, programs and budgeting.
It creates a Climate Change Commission which will oversee all climate change related measures undertaken in the country, while seeking to empower local government units (LGUs) on climate change initiatives and disaster-risk reduction, LGUs being the first responders to disasters like those resulting from strong typhoons, floods, landslides and earthquakes.
“A basic premise of this legislation is that locally-designed initiatives can provide an effective way to achieve local, national and global sustainability objectives. It is my objective to put all local governments on top of the global climate agenda and send a message to our national leaders that climate change compels no less than a nationally coordinated action,” Loren said.
“With the Climate Change Act, we have moved to adaptation plans. The theme of this conference is appropriate because it emphasizes and recognizes that a key solution to the problems being spawned by climate change is adaptation. And in the watershed context as well as in other areas necessitating climate change action, adaptation requires putting all communities at the heart of the relevant programs and policies and gathering collective action that is rooted in a sense of solidarity and shared responsibility.”
Source: http://www.lorenlegarda.com.ph/article-1257912537.html
Loren, the 'green' leader
Amid the recent outbreak of leptospirosis that killed over a hundred in several flood-stricken areas in Metro Manila and other provinces, our national and local government health officials have effectively contained the deadly disease to date. Thank God for that. Thus, I was rather bothered when I saw the photo
of Defense Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro who waded last week in knee-deep flood in Sta.Cruz, Laguna. Hopefully, he had his boots on, behind the blue jeans he was wearing.
The other day, it was the turn of Sen. Loren Legarda who conducted her public hearing on climate change adaptation and disaster mitigation in the still flooded Sta. Cruz, Laguna. But in Loren’s case, her photo release showed she wore boots for protection.
As chairperson of the Senate Oversight Committee on Climate Change, she dramatically called for a Senate public hearing right at the flooded ricefields in Sitio Butuanan, Sta. Cruz, Laguna. Ricefields surrounding Laguna de Bay, the largest lake in the Philippines and the third biggest in Southeast Asia, have been flooded for more than a month now since storm Ondoy lashed northern and central Luzon on Sept. 26.
Ondoy caused the waters of the Laguna de Bay to overflow by a historic high of 10.4 meters that left 28 towns and cities submerged in flood waters, and damaged thousands of hectares of rice crops. From the testimony of experts, it was learned that Ondoy poured some 3,300 cubic meters of rainwater on Marikina and Antipolo which should have flowed through the Napindan Channel into the Pasig River and then all the way to Manila Bay at the rate of 150 cubic meters per second.
A study released by the Asian Development Bank in 2004 stated that the Napindan Channel was initially operated by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). But its operation and control were turned over to the Metro Manila Development
Authority in 2003.
It’s now clear that the DPWH has assumed full jurisdiction as they announced the eviction of some 2,070 families of squatters (informal settlers), as we bluntly call them, out of the floodway in Napindan and in Manggahan. These families who have put up their shanties at the two floodways are being relocated for their own safety and for the general welfare of the public. The squatting problem at the floodways have been largely blamed for unduly causing the catastrophic flooding in the cities of Marikina and Pasig.
The Senate public hearing in Laguna was the second round of Loren’s climate change dialogues since this was signed into law last month. She first conducted the Senate hearing at Provident Village in Marikina City, one of the hardest hit by flashfloods when Ondoy unleashed its fury.
Speaking of Loren, The Manila Standard ran yesterday a front page main photo of her side by side with a photo release of Gibo with a catchy caption “Testing the waters.” As the presidential standard-bearer of the ruling administration Lakas-CMD-Kampi, Gibo is reportedly being paired with Loren as his possible vice presidential running mate for the May 2010 elections. After all, the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) of Loren remains coalesced with the administration of President Arroyo.
During his weekly press conference at Malacañang, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita who is the Lakas-CMD-Kampi president, was quoted as saying the administration is willing to welcome back Loren to return as the “prodigal daughter.” She was once a Lakas-CMD before she left the party to join NPC where she was drafted as the vice presidential running mate of the late actor, Fernando Poe Jr. in the May 2004 presidential elections.
But as history unfolded, she lost to her compadre, Vice President Noli de Castro who won as the running mate of President Arroyo under the Lakas-CMD banner. Two years after her successful Senate comeback, the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) junked Loren’s election protest against Noli.
Although the PET ended their election feud, the competition between Loren and Vice President De Castro continued through the mock polls among presidentiables. Early in the game, the Vice President consistently topped the opinion surveys as the most preferred presidential candidate with Loren a near second.
However, as events are now unfolding, Loren has decided to make a second round and re-launched her vice presidential bid instead. As of today, De Castro remains undecided whether or not to run for the presidency or opt for re-election as Vice President.
As the presidential standard-bearer of the Nacionalista Party (NP) opposition Sen. Manny Villar earlier revealed he has been trying to convince Vice President De Castro to be his running mate. But apparently, their talks have not made any headway up to now. In fact, among the declared presidential candidates, Villar and Gibo are both without any vice presidential running mates as of yet.
Unlike in the United States, our election system provides for separate election for the President and the Vice President. There have been proposals in the past that the Philippines should adopt the US system where the President and the Vice President are elected as one team. But this has not gained support here.
Villar and Gibo have also one thing in common. Their respective camps are also reportedly wooing Loren to become their respective vice presidential candidate. Loren, though, is playing it to the hilt as she, too, keeps the public guessing as to who she would give her nod to.
As the designated UN advocate for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, Loren gained stature as a “green” leader.
When a person is plainly called “green,” it means he or she is still raw (not ripe yet or young). But certainly, Loren is neither raw nor young to be called “green” by this color definition. As an impassioned advocate for climate change, her “green” leadership represents the fresh color of life.
As the most sought after vice presidential running mate, Loren’s detractors are “green” with envy.
Source: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=520820&publicationSubCategoryId=64
of Defense Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro who waded last week in knee-deep flood in Sta.Cruz, Laguna. Hopefully, he had his boots on, behind the blue jeans he was wearing.
The other day, it was the turn of Sen. Loren Legarda who conducted her public hearing on climate change adaptation and disaster mitigation in the still flooded Sta. Cruz, Laguna. But in Loren’s case, her photo release showed she wore boots for protection.
As chairperson of the Senate Oversight Committee on Climate Change, she dramatically called for a Senate public hearing right at the flooded ricefields in Sitio Butuanan, Sta. Cruz, Laguna. Ricefields surrounding Laguna de Bay, the largest lake in the Philippines and the third biggest in Southeast Asia, have been flooded for more than a month now since storm Ondoy lashed northern and central Luzon on Sept. 26.
Ondoy caused the waters of the Laguna de Bay to overflow by a historic high of 10.4 meters that left 28 towns and cities submerged in flood waters, and damaged thousands of hectares of rice crops. From the testimony of experts, it was learned that Ondoy poured some 3,300 cubic meters of rainwater on Marikina and Antipolo which should have flowed through the Napindan Channel into the Pasig River and then all the way to Manila Bay at the rate of 150 cubic meters per second.
A study released by the Asian Development Bank in 2004 stated that the Napindan Channel was initially operated by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). But its operation and control were turned over to the Metro Manila Development
Authority in 2003.
It’s now clear that the DPWH has assumed full jurisdiction as they announced the eviction of some 2,070 families of squatters (informal settlers), as we bluntly call them, out of the floodway in Napindan and in Manggahan. These families who have put up their shanties at the two floodways are being relocated for their own safety and for the general welfare of the public. The squatting problem at the floodways have been largely blamed for unduly causing the catastrophic flooding in the cities of Marikina and Pasig.
The Senate public hearing in Laguna was the second round of Loren’s climate change dialogues since this was signed into law last month. She first conducted the Senate hearing at Provident Village in Marikina City, one of the hardest hit by flashfloods when Ondoy unleashed its fury.
Speaking of Loren, The Manila Standard ran yesterday a front page main photo of her side by side with a photo release of Gibo with a catchy caption “Testing the waters.” As the presidential standard-bearer of the ruling administration Lakas-CMD-Kampi, Gibo is reportedly being paired with Loren as his possible vice presidential running mate for the May 2010 elections. After all, the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) of Loren remains coalesced with the administration of President Arroyo.
During his weekly press conference at Malacañang, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita who is the Lakas-CMD-Kampi president, was quoted as saying the administration is willing to welcome back Loren to return as the “prodigal daughter.” She was once a Lakas-CMD before she left the party to join NPC where she was drafted as the vice presidential running mate of the late actor, Fernando Poe Jr. in the May 2004 presidential elections.
But as history unfolded, she lost to her compadre, Vice President Noli de Castro who won as the running mate of President Arroyo under the Lakas-CMD banner. Two years after her successful Senate comeback, the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) junked Loren’s election protest against Noli.
Although the PET ended their election feud, the competition between Loren and Vice President De Castro continued through the mock polls among presidentiables. Early in the game, the Vice President consistently topped the opinion surveys as the most preferred presidential candidate with Loren a near second.
However, as events are now unfolding, Loren has decided to make a second round and re-launched her vice presidential bid instead. As of today, De Castro remains undecided whether or not to run for the presidency or opt for re-election as Vice President.
As the presidential standard-bearer of the Nacionalista Party (NP) opposition Sen. Manny Villar earlier revealed he has been trying to convince Vice President De Castro to be his running mate. But apparently, their talks have not made any headway up to now. In fact, among the declared presidential candidates, Villar and Gibo are both without any vice presidential running mates as of yet.
Unlike in the United States, our election system provides for separate election for the President and the Vice President. There have been proposals in the past that the Philippines should adopt the US system where the President and the Vice President are elected as one team. But this has not gained support here.
Villar and Gibo have also one thing in common. Their respective camps are also reportedly wooing Loren to become their respective vice presidential candidate. Loren, though, is playing it to the hilt as she, too, keeps the public guessing as to who she would give her nod to.
As the designated UN advocate for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, Loren gained stature as a “green” leader.
When a person is plainly called “green,” it means he or she is still raw (not ripe yet or young). But certainly, Loren is neither raw nor young to be called “green” by this color definition. As an impassioned advocate for climate change, her “green” leadership represents the fresh color of life.
As the most sought after vice presidential running mate, Loren’s detractors are “green” with envy.
Source: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=520820&publicationSubCategoryId=64
Loren to set example by picking litter on streets
MANILA, Philippines -- Unless the weather is stormy, Sen. Loren Legarda will be picking up litter in the streets of Metro Manila this week.
Legarda said on Sunday she was planning to pick up litter in the streets to show people that "we need not look far and wide" in looking for solution of problems to the environment.
She mentioned the Solid Waste Management law, which she authored and which provided for local government units to be responsible for the disposal of garbage in their respective backyards.
“I am going to set the example and pick up litter,'' she said in a phone interview. “There should be less talk. Let's just do things.''
The senator, who was a successful broadcast journalist before she entered politics, said she was known to be prickly about litter in her former office.
She said she would pick up candy wrappers or trash if she spotted them.
Legarda said she was very much moved with what she saw during an inspection of lakeshore towns in Laguna Lake last Saturday.
“It was pitiful and an eye opener,” she said as she recalled seeing for instance dead rats drifting in the still flooded waters of poor communities she visited during the weekend.
Legarda visited Lupang Arenda, a reclaimed former dumpsite situated in the Taytay-Pasig border, and which experts recently said was in danger of being swallowed up along with some 6,000 families living there should an earthquake happen there.
The land there was prone to liquefaction and experts said the former dumpsite could suffer the fate of a community in Dagupan during the 1991 earthquake where buildings and other structures collapsed.
“These are really subhuman conditions and we should really get them out of there,” Legarda said.
Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20091018-230778/Loren-to-set-example-by-picking-litter-on-streets
Legarda said on Sunday she was planning to pick up litter in the streets to show people that "we need not look far and wide" in looking for solution of problems to the environment.
She mentioned the Solid Waste Management law, which she authored and which provided for local government units to be responsible for the disposal of garbage in their respective backyards.
“I am going to set the example and pick up litter,'' she said in a phone interview. “There should be less talk. Let's just do things.''
The senator, who was a successful broadcast journalist before she entered politics, said she was known to be prickly about litter in her former office.
She said she would pick up candy wrappers or trash if she spotted them.
Legarda said she was very much moved with what she saw during an inspection of lakeshore towns in Laguna Lake last Saturday.
“It was pitiful and an eye opener,” she said as she recalled seeing for instance dead rats drifting in the still flooded waters of poor communities she visited during the weekend.
Legarda visited Lupang Arenda, a reclaimed former dumpsite situated in the Taytay-Pasig border, and which experts recently said was in danger of being swallowed up along with some 6,000 families living there should an earthquake happen there.
The land there was prone to liquefaction and experts said the former dumpsite could suffer the fate of a community in Dagupan during the 1991 earthquake where buildings and other structures collapsed.
“These are really subhuman conditions and we should really get them out of there,” Legarda said.
Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20091018-230778/Loren-to-set-example-by-picking-litter-on-streets
NPC’s Joan of Arc in search of a Dauphin
In an earlier column, I wrote that self-declared vice-presidential candidate Loren Legarda, descending upon what looked like a wake of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, rallied its members after their erstwhile presidential candidate Francis Escudero deserted them. Loren roused the troops a la Joan of Arc, promising to “lead you to victory.” I recounted the remark of a party elder, former Gov. Tomas Joson, as he watched the white-shirted lady senator sounding the clarion call to battle, “Yan ang tunay na lalaki.”
Now Joan of Arc is in furious search of her Dauphin, for whom she would do battle in the coming months up to May 2010. If reports are to be believed, she’s choosing between NP bet Manny Villar and Lakas bet Gilbert Teodoro. Villar offers entrepreneurship and a home for every poor Filipino as the pillar of his economic platform, while Teodoro doubtless would make the reconstruction of this storm-ravaged country his main preoccupation in the succeeding years, which will be filled with fears and uncertainties over the onslaught of climate change.
Pairing Loren off with either presidential candidate would be to the latter’s advantage, as her unique brand of political machismo has apparently not been lost on voters, especially after her former political partner, Chiz Escudero, proved faint-hearted. A prominent businessman who’s a regular fixture in the dinner circuit recounted to me recently that in various polling of candidate preferences in several dinners he attended, Loren always came out ahead in the VP race. His conclusion: Hindi nakakaseguro si Mar Roxas.
Source: http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20091110-235281/NPCs-Joan-of-Arc-in-search-of-a-Dauphin
Now Joan of Arc is in furious search of her Dauphin, for whom she would do battle in the coming months up to May 2010. If reports are to be believed, she’s choosing between NP bet Manny Villar and Lakas bet Gilbert Teodoro. Villar offers entrepreneurship and a home for every poor Filipino as the pillar of his economic platform, while Teodoro doubtless would make the reconstruction of this storm-ravaged country his main preoccupation in the succeeding years, which will be filled with fears and uncertainties over the onslaught of climate change.
Pairing Loren off with either presidential candidate would be to the latter’s advantage, as her unique brand of political machismo has apparently not been lost on voters, especially after her former political partner, Chiz Escudero, proved faint-hearted. A prominent businessman who’s a regular fixture in the dinner circuit recounted to me recently that in various polling of candidate preferences in several dinners he attended, Loren always came out ahead in the VP race. His conclusion: Hindi nakakaseguro si Mar Roxas.
Source: http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20091110-235281/NPCs-Joan-of-Arc-in-search-of-a-Dauphin
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