ASEAN countries close ranks in support of deep cuts in gas emissions to combat
Climate Change
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Member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have closed ranks to forge a
common stand on Global Warming at the on-going June 1-12 United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bonn, Germany.
The ASEAN move augurs well for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s call for early, bolder and deep cuts in
greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by all countries, particularly advanced economies.
Presidential Adviser on Global Warming and Climate Change Secretary Heherson T. Alvarez who earlier said
he was instructed by the President to work for such early and deep cuts in gas emissions, said lead ASEAN
negotiators met on the side of the UNFCCC to explore and find their shared concerns.
Reporting from Bonn where he heads the Philippine delegation, Alvarez said “we have come together
recognizing our collective and individual interests on Global Climate Change.”
He said he explained to the ASEAN negotiators, the Philippine submissions to the conference which strongly
stress that ASEAN countries are most vulnerable to the immediate impact of the creeping climate change.
The Philippine recommended interventions, Alvarez said, call for deep and early cut of carbon dioxide (CO2)
emissions by certain economies of more than 30-40% from 2013 to 2017, and more than 50% from 2018 to
2022 based on 1990 levels.
The deep and early cuts, he explained are expected to avert or at least moderate the accelerating destructive
typhoons brought about by Climate Change that maul and batter countries along their paths.
“In ASEAN, creeping climate change is a common occurrence and its impact is a rising destruction on whole
communities and food systems. We must respond to protect the region and its extremely vulnerable
population,” Alvarez emphasized.
Alvarez said he has invited ASEAN groups to form “synergies” at the on-going climate change talks in
fundamental issues that will moderate, if not avert, the impact of Climate Change and urge developing
countries like China and India to limit growth of their greenhouse gas emissions.
“The other issues include financing for both mitigation and adaption for developing countries and on how
these funds will be managed,” he added.
After considering various recommendations by other ASEAN parties, Alvarez said they agreed to draft a
declaration embodying the various recommendation of the ASEAN and other nations, Alvarez added.
Last June 1, President Arroyo and Alvarez met with ASEAN heads of state who attended the ASEAN
Commemorative Summit in South Korea where they discussed climate change and related issues.
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PGMA okays establishment of research and dev’t trust fund
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President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has directed the Department of Science and Technology (DoST) to solicit
public and private sector support for the establishment of a trust fund for research and development (R&D)
programs.
In a press conference in Malacañang this afternoon, DoST Secretary Estrella Alabastro said the
establishment of the trust fund is a way of recognizing the important role R&D practitioners play in national
development and advancement.
She added that this trust fund would also provide “the same level of support as the President is giving to us
right now” beyond 2010.
“A trust fund will be created to become the repository for both public and private sector funds so that this can
be used to provide support for research and development,” Alabastro said.
She added the President agreed to the establishment of the trust fund provided R&D expenditures are divided
between participating government and private sectors at 36 percent for the government and 64 percent for the
private.
“The President said that for the trust fund, we (government sector) can commit 30 percent of the fund but we
expect the private sector to give 70 percent,” Alabastro said.
Alabastro said total R&D expenditures as of 2005 have been estimated to reach P6-billion.
In the same press conference, Alabastro reported on the first meeting of the Presidential Coordinating
Council for Research and Development (PCCRD), a body created under Executive Order No. 604 issued by
the President in February 2007.
Alabastro said the President’s directives to the PCCRD sought to carry out with greater coordination among
government agencies with R&D budgets its “investment plan for R&D with a monitoring and evaluation
scheme to see if the plan is being implemented properly and whether or not R&D institutions are doing their
jobs well.”
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Recto: RP’s 0.4% Q1 GNP growth forecast, compared to negative figures of
neighbors, is not bad
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Planning Secretary and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director General Ralph Recto
said the 0.4 percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth projection for the quarter is “not totally bad,”
modest as it is.
The projection was “very conservative” but in the course of things “we have created more than 500,000 jobs,
based on the report of the National Statistics Board, mostly coming from the services and agriculture sectors
since the manufacturing sector contracted during the period,” Recto said during a briefing for Palace reporters
today.
Recto, however, said the Cabinet did not take up the first quarter growth forecast to be discussed first at the
level of the Development Budget Coordinating Council (DBCC) tomorrow which will be attended by all
economic managers.
Only after then will we “make a presentation to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and then to the Cabinet,”
Recto explained.
He expressed confidence the growth will assume an upward trend while inflation will go downward. Some of
these assumptions will be discussed at the DBCC level tomorrow, he added.
Comparing the country’s growth with those of its neighbors, Recto disclosed that South Korea posted a -4.3
percent growth; Malaysia, -6.2%; Thailand, -7.1%; Hongkong, -7.8%; Singapore, -10.1%; and Taiwan, -10.2 %.
“At 0.4 real growth, ours is not that bad. It is still higher than our neighbors,” he explained.
Recto said the GNP (gross national product) growth of 4.4 percent, already above our growth forecast and a
GDP of 0.4, that mostly went into savings is again “not bad because at least people now have more savings
reserve.”
“We have very high savings rate compared to the US and Europe, both western and eastern Europe. So we
are doing pretty good and that is why the stock exchange rose by 39 percent since its dip on March 9. It has
now gone up by around 40 percent,” he added..
He pointed out that “clearly the market shows our fundamentals pulling forward.” Today in the Cabinet
meeting, the country’s 10 largest banks also showed double digit increases in their savings deposits. “That
means people have savings,” he said.
Many of the OFWs, he noted, brought with them fear stories of the countries where they worked, including
stories of people who lost their jobs, banks collapsing and even the giant General Motors filing bankruptcy
proceedings and so forth. “So together with the remittances they send back home they also brought with them
fear stories,” he said.
Recto also observed that OFWs now spend their money wisely. Where before they spent on non essentials,
now they are buying houses that is why private consumption went up by 13 percent even as they tell their
families to scrimp a little because of all these fear stories.
Eventually, he said, all these things will end up positively in the form of more investments and more
consumption.
“For as long as inflation goes down, we can expect a higher positive growth,” he enthused.
On reports that NEDA is overly optimistic in its forecast, Recto said: “I would rather be an optimist than a
pessimist. Looking at our blessings as well as the negatives. our projections are realistic,”
If we were negative six or negative seven like Taiwan, I think we should be pessimistic, he added.
On the deficit projection, he said, right now the P1.4 trillion budget is roughly 15-16% more than last year’s
budget. The deficit could be higher because revenue collections may contract like in the first four months of
the year.
“All of these will be looked into,” he assured.
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