Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 16) — Officials of the government’s policy-making body on climate change may be banned from traveling abroad in 2023 as senators flagged the 20 trips they had in seven months.
“This body has been in existence for 13 years and indeed has very little to show except for international travels and its carbon footprint,” Senator Imee Marcos said Wednesday during Senate deliberations on the proposed P128-million budget of the Climate Change Commission for 2023.
“From April to November this year, 20 trips were recorded by the Climate Change Commission,” she added.
Marcos said she will propose a provision under the commission’s budget in the General Appropriations Bill “disallowing travel unless absolutely necessary.”
For Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda, “post-travel reports on necessary travel” would suffice.
“I think that should apply not just to the Climate Change Commission but to all agencies in the executive department so that whatever conferences they attend can be used for policy,” she said.
Legarda asked the commission to submit 20 reports on its recent trips, on top of other information on all funds and projects accessed by the government since the body was created through the Climate Change Act of 2009.
Last week, Legarda moved for the deferment of deliberations on the commission’s budget due to the absence of two commissioners, who were attending the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Egypt. Vice Chairperson Robert Borje attended the Nov. 10 budget deliberations, but senators pointed out it has been customary for the top officials of agencies to show up.
The Climate Change Commission is an attached agency to the Office of the President, with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. as chairman.
The Senate approved its 2023 budget on Wednesday but Legarda said she will deliver a privilege speech next week tackling various issues concerning the agency.
