On Monday, November 7, after much disagreement and labelling it as “stupid” and “absurd,” President Rodrigo Duterte has announced that he is going to honor the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Fearing this deal would curtail the economic progress of the country, the President expressed his disagreement at first. However, he told a group of journalists in Malacañang that he had a change of heart regarding the issue due to the majority of the Cabinet members voting to uphold the treaty.
This treaty has been adopted by approximately 200 countries and the Philippines in the 21st Conference of Parties held last year in France.
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“After so much debate, I will sign the climate change agreement,” Duterte stated before the induction of the newly elected officers of the National Press Club.
“It was a unanimous vote, except for one or two [who opposed it]. I was one of those… [But] since it’s a Cabinet decision, I would go along with it and sign it,” the President disclosed.
Duterte opposed the treaty because he feared that these proposed restrictions on emission of greenhouse gases could probably affect the industrialization of the country.
Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. also strongly opposed the Paris Agreement on climate change but gave in after understanding the arguments of other Cabinet members who were in favor of the pact in a meeting held for several hours.
President Duterte continues to have reservations on the international treaty saying, “As for me, I’m not really comfortable with it. Even in the matter of contributing the money to a common fund. Read again because it does not say about payment of damages that you will incur in a storm or a typhoon like [Supertyphoon] ‘Yolanda.’” He also points out that no sanctions were explicitly mentioned for those countries that would fail to comply.
“If you will read the treaty, it’s binding. But there is no sanction. So that if it is a low country in terms of economic level, the big ones will always force upon you to do it.”
Source: (globalnation.inquirer.net)
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