Michelle Remo in the Inquirer (Philippines): President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the Philippines, as a victim of climate change, would press for additional aid from multilateral lenders and other foreign institutions run mostly by rich countries so it could rebuild from the damage caused by storm "Ondoy" (international codename: Ketsana) and typhoon "Pepeng" (Parma).In a speech during the Philippine Economic Briefing held on Wednesday, Arroyo said the country has been suffering from the effects of climate change, which it did not cause, and should therefore be compensated and helped. "The Philippines is not a culprit to climate change. We are victims, and victims should be compensated and not penalized by high interest rates [on loans]," President Arroyo said in her speech.
The government would focus on soliciting grants rather than loans from international bodies, Arroyo stressed.
…The Philippines has not been a major contributor to climate change, experts said, as the country only accounted for 0.27 percent of total greenhouse emissions of the world. Nonetheless, the Philippines is named one of the countries most prone to calamities caused by climate change because of its geographic location….
Landslide in Barangay San Juan Banyo which is within the Arayat National Park that buried alive 12 villagers, eight of them children, at the height of then tropical storm Ketsana on Saturday, September 26 2009. Shot by Susan Corpuz from Ortigas, Philippines, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License
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