MANILA - Legislators took one step closer to scrapping two climate change bodies which, critics said, have fallen prey to politics. 

The Joint Congressional Committee on Climate Change on Wednesday finalized the consolidated bill of the Climate Change Act, paving the way for the establishment of the Climate Change Commission, which would serve as the country’s sole policy-making body on climate change. 

The creation of the commission would lead to the dismantling of the Inter-Agency Committee on Climate Change (IACCC), and the Presidential Task Force on Climate Change (PTFCC), units that have been hampered by political squabbling between Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes and Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Joselito “Lito” Atienza.
 
The PTFCC, created by Pres. Arroyo in 2007, was originally supposed to be headed by Atienza, but Reyes eventually got to head it. The IACCC was designated as its secretariat, but then later replaced by a new unit, the Climate Change Office.

The Joint Congressional Committee on Climate Change said the new commission would no longer be stymied by political wrangllings since it would be headed by no less than President Arroyo herself. (Read: Too much bureaucracy weakens RP's fight vs climate change)

The lower House initially wanted the commission to be led by a chair to be appointed by the president, but the bicameral committee decided to adopt the Senate’s proposal, which put the chief executive at the helm of the climate change body.

'Too much teeth'

Beyond the commission’s structure however, the Joint Congressional Committee on Climate Change also ironed out differences over the more contentious issue of the commission’s powers.

Nueva Ecija Rep. Eduardo Joson wanted the body to have a legal weapon against public and private entities that discharge excessive carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is one of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

Sen. Loren Legarda, however, said the Climate Change Commission should stick to its policy-making and coordinating functions.
“We cannot penalize,” she said, adding that heads of government agencies who will serve as ex-officio members of the commission also have the mandate to go after polluters.

“If you put too much teeth into it, it will be too obtrusive,” she stressed. “We will be stepping on the toes of government agencies.”

But Joson pointed out that the commission must be able to do something when its assessment reports reveal that corporations and agencies violated environmental regulations. “If there is non-compliance, what will happen now?” he asked.     

Dr. Rosa Perez, a member of the Nobel Peace Prize winner Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and one of those who helped draft the Climate Change Act, explained that the body has monitoring and evaluation functions which could be detailed later in the legislation’s implementing rules and regulations.

Not a super body

The Joint Congressional Comittee on Climate Change also moved not to turn the commission into a “super body” as it also removed its authority to have policy oversight.

“I will have a problem with the oversight,” Sen. Edgardo Angara said, adding that Congress already has oversight function.

In the end, the committee agreed to replace word “policy oversight” in the consolidated bill with “policy coordinating responsibilities.”

Angara also pushed to soften the commission’s power to recommend the approval of investments in climate-sensitive sectors. Sen. Miguel Zubiri backed him and changed the language to “recommend key investments.”

More funding   

The Joint Congressional Committee on Climate Change also gave local government units (LGUs) the chance to source funds. It mandated the national government to provide financial and technical assistance to LGUs for the implementation of their local action plans against climate change.

“We should add a provision that it will be the responsibility of the national government to provide funds to LGUs,” Angara said, adding that without financial back-up from the national government, the Climate Change Act would be an “empty law.”
 
The consolidated bill also asked government financial institutions (GFIs) to provide LGUs and private entrepreneurs with preferential financial loans for climate change-related initiatives.

Angara also required the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to issue implementing guidelines for loan applications so as to compel government financial institutions (GFIs) such as the Development Bank of the Philippines and the Land Bank of the Philippines to extend the loans to LGUs.

Rex Cruz, dean of the UP College of Forestry and another member of the IPCC, said that providing preferential loans to LGUs is like hitting two birds with one stone: the LGUs would have the money to implement their adaptation and mitigation projects, with the caveat that they have to enforce them effectively so as not to have their funds withheld or slashed by the GFIs.