House okays P145-M budget of Climate Change Commission

The Climate Change Commission (CCC) welcomed the approval by the House of Representatives of its budget for Fiscal Year 2022 amounting to a little over Php 145 million.

“As Vice Chair of Committee on Appropriations, it is my distinct honor and privilege to sponsor the budget proposal of the Climate Change Commission for Fiscal Year 2022,” said Zamboanga City 2nd District Representative Manuel Jose “Mannix” M. Dalipe during the budget deliberation last Thursday, September 23.

The approved CCC budget for 2022 was 3.37% lower than the agency’s budget for the current year which amounted to Php 150.47 million pesos, for the delivery of capacity building initiatives of the Commission, monitoring and evaluation, and production of information, education, and communication materials.

Representative Dalipe expressed his view that the budget of the climate body is insufficient, and that the agency would welcome any additional support or funding to effectively and properly implement additional programs on climate change.

“Madam Speaker, we hope that the House of Representatives will exhaust all means to fund the six million cut from the original proposed budget of the CCC to fund very important projects – capacity building [and] information education, specially at the grassroots level. ‘Yun po ‘yung kinakailangan para hindi lang iilan ‘yung nag-uusap tungkol sa planetary emergency o sa usaping pang-klima, kung hindi para matiyak natin na ‘yung tao mismo, ‘yung humahawak ng kapangyarihan [at] gumagalaw sa kanilang mga komunidad [ay capacitated] para [matiyak] na magiging matagumpay lahat ng pinapatupad natin na climate mitigation and adaptation strategies,” Kabataan Partylist Representative Sarah Jane Elago appealed during her interpelation.

CCC Secretary Emmanuel M. De Guzman expressed appreciation to Rep. Dalipe for the sponsorship of the agency’s budget.

“The Climate Change Commission deeply thanks Rep. Mannix Dalipe (2nd District, Zamboanga City) for his successful sponsorship of its agency budget for 2022, with a motion for augmentation from Rep Sarah Elago, at today’s House plenary.  The budget allocation for CCC is P145 million, representing 0.004% of the total national government budget of P3.351 trillion,” he said.

The Climate Change Commission is the lead policy-making body of the government tasked to coordinate, monitor and evaluate government programs and ensure mainstreaming of climate change in national, local, and sectoral development plans towards a climate-resilient and climate-smart Philippines.

To know more about the CCC, visit its social media handles, www.facebook.com/CCCPhl, www.instagram.com/CCCphl and on Twitter at @CCCPhl, or visit its website at climate.gov.ph.