‘Business for Resilience: Towards a Resilient Philippines’

RESILIENCE is not measured by how fast we reconstruct and rebuild our infrastructure. It should also not be measured by the billions of pesos that we allocate for rehabilitation nor the dollars or euros that we acquire from foreign donations. This does not mean we discredit such efforts because these are important as well.

But resilience is measured by the effectiveness of our processes and systems in place in averting these disasters before they even strike. To be resilient is to protect our people and the environment upon which many Filipinos depend for their livelihood. To be resilient is to implement adaptation projects that will raise our capacity to address our climate and disaster risks and vulnerabilities. To be resilient is to shift from being climate-vulnerable to being climate-smart.

First, we need to be fully aware and to fully understand our prevailing climate and disaster risks that should inform policy and action.

We need science in strengthening building codes and making risk-sensitive land use plans that are linked into yearly investment plans of governments. Hazard maps can provide a good foundation for the work of our planners and builders. We need probabilistic maps and impactbased forecasts and risk-informed warnings through multi-hazard early warning systems.

We must ensure that these instruments are not only delivered to leaders and policy-makers but also understood. It is, thus, important for members of the academic community—our scientists, researchers, professors, and subject matter experts—to communicate the practical value of what they are doing and to contribute to serve current and future needs and interests of our communities. Second, we should scale up green financing to maximize green projects and resilience programs.

Our national budget is one that is climate-adaptive and disaster-resilient in that it funds, and also mandates agencies of government to implement programs, projects and activities that contribute towards preventing the creation of new disaster risks, reducing existing disaster risks, building the resilience of local communities and the nation as a whole.

We have mainstreamed provisions that ensure that the implementation of government programs would contribute towards building resilience, including on the maintenance and operation of dams, repair and retrofitting of public infrastructure, resilience of agricultural communities, and building of evacuation centers in every region in the country.

The government has already started “greening” our industries in various sectors, but the private sector could further escalate this to new heights.

Our micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which comprise 99.5% of the total establishments in the country and employ 61.6% of the total workforce, should be given the chance to venture into green businesses that private banks and financial institutions could help realize.

I am certain that each one of us here today can contribute to this transformation. Third, we need to implement our environmental laws.

In 2008, we enacted a Renewable Energy Law that provides for the full development and use of RE in the country. More recently, under the Green Jobs Act, companies that create employment which contribute to preserving the quality of our environment can avail of tax incentives and duty-free importation of equipment. We also have laws that mandate the installation of solid waste management facilities and rainwater collectors in our local government units.

Our laws are hailed as among the best in the world, but without strict and effective implementation, we can never maximize their full potential.

The private sector is encouraged to implement these environmental laws as well through the practice of waste segregation; establishment of materials recovery facility, rainwater collection systems in buildings, food gardens and seed banks; and transition to renewable energy sources such as solar rooftops, among others.

And fourth, we need to foster convergence—to harness all our strengths and coordinate our action into a cohesive action plan for disaster risk reduction and management.

We have borne the brunt of the most deadly disasters, and we have learned from those experiences with the tragic loss of lives. We already have extensive science and data—how natural hazards have become more frequent and how they impact our communities. Our actions should match the level of our understanding.

Our efforts to address disasters and climate change should not be fragmented. We should stop addressing them in isolation. Our efforts to adapt and mitigate should be coordinated among all stakeholders, in harmony.

We all can contribute in winning this fight. We have proven so many times that the Filipino spirit is resilient. We have inspired other nations by becoming the voice of the vulnerable. And I know that we can do so much better.

Excerpts of speech of Senator Loren Legarda 6th Top Leaders Forum November 29, 2017 | Conrad Hotel, Manila