British diplomat teases support for climate initiatives in Iloilo

By Joseph Bernard A. Marzan

One of the British government’s top diplomats to the Philippines touted the potential for partnerships with the city and provincial governments of Iloilo in renewable energy and climate adaptation for the agriculture sector.

Andrew Bowes, political counsellor of the British Embassy in Manila, visited Iloilo City for the Visayas leg of the caravan of the Mayors for Good Governance (M4GG), which the embassy is supporting.

Bowes said that Iloilo City was a good place to learn the United Kingdom’s relations with the Philippines, as he highlighted the 80th anniversary of formal diplomatic relations of the two countries this year.

He cited Nicholas Loney, an English businessman who served as the British Empire’s vice-consul in Iloilo City, and for whom one of its popular roads, Muelle Loney, is named, as well as the Scottish engineers who worked on the development of Panay Railways.

He also mentioned the fifth anniversary of its dialogue partnership with the Association of South East Asian Nations, which the country currently chairs, and with the city hosting some of the association’s meetings.

“Iloilo is a great place to come to, to learn about the longer history of the UK and British people in the Philippines. I’m sure you’re all familiar with the story of Nicholas Loney and his role in developing global trade. That has been great to learn about,” Bowes told the press on Thursday, April 16.

Bowes said that he had already met with Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. and Iloilo City Mayor Raisa Treñas-Chu, with whom he was able to discuss the British government’s interest in renewable energy and climate adaptation for the agricultural sector in the Philippines.

He cited their UK Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions (UK PACT) program, a programme funded by the UK Government to support countries to overcome barriers to clean growth and have high emissions reduction potential to accelerate their climate change mitigation efforts.

“We haven’t got to the stage what very specifically it might be, but we do have some programs, [like] the [UK] PACT[.] That was one program that I mentioned to [Treñas-Chu] that we might want to follow up on, to see if there are areas where we can provide assistance,” he said.

The diplomat mentioned the things he had heard about Iloilo City and how it was a good place to provide development assistance.

“Many people have said to me that Iloilo is the first city they come to when they want to trial a new proposal, and it sounds like Iloilo has been very successful,” he said.

Bowes stressed the importance for diplomats like him to go around the Philippines to understand it.

“It’s really important that I get out of the capital, and find out what it is feeling like, in the wider Philippines and what the issues are. That’s the role of the diplomats, trying to understand the country where they are posted to,” he said.