Sen. Marcos Urges Gov't To Step Up Preparations vs. Disasters
Brought By Climate Change

As world leaders meet in Paris to tackle climate change, Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos, Jr. today said we should step up preparations for the increasing severity of natural disasters brought about by changing weather patterns.

"No matter what agreement will be reached in the Paris summit we can no longer ignore the reality that we will be facing stronger typhoons, massive flooding, landslides and other natural disasters as a result of climate change. The prudent thing to do now is step up our preparedness," Marcos recommended.

"We have to take a proactive approach. We are saying, ito na ngayon ang mangyayari, unahan na natin," he added.

The 21st United Nations Conference of the Parties, or COP21, which began in Paris Monday aims to unite some 150 nations for a single agreement tackling climate change by capping the rate of global warming at 2 degrees Celsius - compared to the current 2.5 to 3.76 degrees Celsius.

Among others, Marcos urged local governments to adopt a pre-emptive evacuation system in disaster-prone areas at the onset of the typhoons and heavy rains while the national government should build and or clearly identify disaster-resilient evacuation centers.

Marcos said the government should also speed up the implementation of the law on the modernization of PAGASA (Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration) and continue to tap the capability of the military in rescue and relief operations due to its expertise in logistics in the distribution of relief goods and materials to disaster-stricken areas.

"We have a lot to do in terms of being able to provide the relief goods. I think the single most important lesson that we have to continue to remind ourselves is, politics has no place in the calamity area. Buhay na ng tao ito. Ibang usapan ito," Marcos asserted.

Marcos said we should have learned from the lessons of super-typhoon Yolanda in improving our capability to mitigate the effects of disasters brought about by climate change.

"We know what those lessons are, the challenge is how to implement them," Marcos concluded.