Economists looking for ways to cushion El Niño effects

The country’s economic managers are assessing the possible effects of El Niño on the country and finding ways to cushion its impact on the people, President Aquino said on Tuesday.

“I think the primary discussion has centered on El Niño and the potential effects it will have on the Philippine economy and our people’s lot,” Aquino said during the annual presidential forum of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines.

He said the government has put in place measures to address this weather phenomenon.

With the flooding caused by Typhoon Lando, the President said it was difficult to imagine the effects of El Niño come December, January and February.

“We want to ensure that there will be sufficient supplies of the staple at reasonable prices,” he said, adding that the government has yet to decide whether it would augment the 500,000 metric tons of rice that it would import to ensure stable rice supply.

Aquino said he would leave it to National Economic and Development Authority director general Arsenio Balisacan to come up with the prospects of the third-quarter gross domestic product.

The President noted that while Lando inundated riceproducing areas in Central Luzon, the typhoon also filled the dams in Luzon that would help farmers cope with the dry spell.

Aquino enumerated the government’s programs to protect the environment and curb climate change during the 2015 Community- Based Forest Management National Greening Program Congress at the World Trade Center in

Pasay City yesterday.

P1-B climate fund

The climate change adaptation and mitigation projects that will be funded using the P1- billion People’s Survival Fund (PSF) will not be tainted with corruption, an official of the Climate Change Commission (CCC) said.

CCC assistant secretary Joyceline Goco said the fund, which is available for poor and vulnerable local government units in the country, would only be released following a stringent evaluation of the proposals submitted to the board.

“It will be difficult to taint the process with corruption because it’s transparent,” Goco said during the launch of the PSF in Makati City yesterday.

She said the funds are subject to audit by the Commission on Audit based on documents submitted by the Municipal Development Fund Office (MDFO) of the Department of Finance.

The PSF Board, chaired by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, tapped the MDFO to facilitate the disbursement of funds for approved proposals and validation of the projects.

Created in 2012 through Republic Act 10174, the PSF provides an annual funding of at least P1 billion to finance climate change adaptation projects that will be implemented by LGUs or community organizations.

“The LGUs will now have the means to realize the plans they have set up to insulate constituents against climate change- induced disasters and exploit the benefits that climate change may bring,” Goco said. –