Salceda pushes transfer of climate fund to CCC

LEGAZPI CITY  , Philippines  —   Albay Rep. Joey Salceda is prodding the government to give back custody and management of the yet to be received Green Climate Fund (GCF) amounting to $300 million from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to the Climate Change Commission (CCC).

Salceda, of the province’s second district, made the call as the Philippines has yet to receive its share of the $4-bilion fund, which is to be distributed to the earlier identified recipient countries.

A United Nations-declared global champion campaigner on climate change adaptation-disaster risk reduction (CC-DRR) advocacies, Salceda said that the Philippines should have received its share four years ago, when the mechanics for fund distribution were finalized.

He said the delay was aggravated when the government failed to determine which agency should receive and manage the fund to mitigate the impact of the changing climatic conditions in the country.

Salceda said the agency supposed to take custody and management of the fund was the CCC, created under the Aquino administration.

“But for unclear reasons, DENR, under then Secretary Gina Lopez, came into the picture and claimed to take custody of the fund,” Salceda said.

He said that due to this change in the fund’s custody, the GCF is hesitant to release the $300 million intended to finance programs that would mitigate the impact of climate change in the Philippines.

“What is ironic is the fact that we have not yet received our share while we worked very seriously, which led to the realization of the Green Climate Fund,” Salceda told The STAR.

Meanwhile, Salceda told local government officials here to make good on their proposals to access the government’s people’s survival fund (PSF), which has been allocated P1 billion a year in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) since 2015.

“All you have to do is to make proposals of your plans aimed at mitigating the impact of climate change in your localities. The PSF would fund them,” Salceda told a three-day PSF seminar last week attended by local government unit (LGU) officials here that ended Friday.

The Bicol lawmakers on hand also promised to simplify requirements in accessing the PSF amid complaints by LGUs of the fund’s accessibility.