This is not a new warning: here now are the signs of the climate crisis. At least 1.1 million Filipinos now have already been affected by Super Typhoon Odette (Rai), which brought massive rainfall amounts even bigger than Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in 2013.
Just a year has passed since the consecutive typhoons Rolly (Goni) and Ulysses (Vamco) ravaged our nation. Just this year, the scientific body of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change just released its latest report confirming that we are already experiencing the intensified rainfall caused by climate change.
This is not just a crisis of the climate, but also a crisis of criminal neglect by the Duterte government. If there wasn’t a public uproar over President Rodrigo Duterte’s statement that funds for aid have already been depleted, this presidency would have refrained from touching billions of pesos of its pork barrel funds that should have been allocated for climate adaptation in the first place.
This presidency has been silent over the industries destroying our forests and condemning us in a situation where 130 of the 142 critical watersheds in the county are degraded.
The affected regions of Caraga, Negros, Eastern Visayas, and Southern Tagalog bear the massive scars of deforestation caused by large scale mines, haciendas and other planations, and other destructive projects—industries Duterte himself has facilitated to encroach into our landscapes.
We need to break free from the criminal neglect of the Duterte regime. As with the community pantries rising up to the pandemic crisis, we cannot rely on anything other than our own mutual aid. Let us support relief and assistance drives that will go directly to underserved communities.
Let us show our support for a People’s Green New Deal that will facilitate economic stimulus for adapting our economy to the impacts of the pandemic and climate change. If the government was able to release $48 billion in stimulus back in 2020, it should be able to do it again in 2022.
In the upcoming 2022 national elections, let us pledge our votes for a new leadership that will respond to the Panatang Luntian—our comprehensive agenda for a just and green recovery of our economy.#
