Quezon City — Reacting to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr’s State of the Nation Address today, Greenpeace senior climate campaigner Virginia Benosa-Llorin said:

“The President called out corrupt officials over failed flood control but ignored the biggest offenders: fossil fuel companies profiting off the suffering of Filipinos.”
As floodwaters from the southwest monsoon and by Tropical Cyclones Crising, Dante, and Emong are just receding, leaving at least PHP5 billion worth of damages to infrastructure, half a billion in agriculture losses, and at least 30 lives lost, Greenpeace said the President’s response was far too myopic.

“This SONA showed that the President remains blind to the true perpetrators of the climate crisis,” Benosa-Llorin said. “A crackdown on crooked local officials is necessary but he should not have stopped there. Major oil and gas companies are the top contributors to climate change, reaping trillions in profits annually while Filipinos are caught in a cycle of devastation, displacement, and rebuilding. Where is the political will to confront these companies?

“The dangerous subtext to the President’s uninformed references to the climate crisis as the ‘new normal’ is that he is asking Filipinos to just bear the consequences of the unabated emissions of rich countries and corporations. This is not what Filipinos need to hear. Around the country, many climate impacted communities are already standing up and holding big oil and gas companies to account for the climate crisis, taking them to courts and confronting them at their doorsteps. The President needs to heed their calls and follow their example.”

Greenpeace had earlier urged the President to prioritize climate justice in his address, and to use the recent advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on climate change, which stated that the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a fundamental human right. The world court’s opinion will influence climate policies and legal actions worldwide, and potentially empowers vulnerable nations and communities to hold big polluters like fossil fuel corporations responsible for harming future generations.

“President Marcos has the power and the responsibility to make climate polluters pay. Loss and damage funding, resilient infrastructure, early warning systems and others can and should all be financed by those who have contributed most to the crisis, instead of the Filipino people.

“We call on President Marcos to support stronger climate policies, call for an end to fossil fuel expansion, and demand that Congress fast-track the passage of strong legislation that is grounded in climate justice, particularly the CLIMA Bill–a law that holds corporations responsible for climate damages and secures justice for affected communities.”

Greenpeace continues to call on President Marcos Jr to:

  • Demand payment for climate loss and damage from fossil fuel companies and rich nations alike, and championing the Climate Damages Tax and other innovative sources of finance to ensure not just adequate funding, but, importantly, payment from corporations, for loss and damage;
  • Call for an end to oil and gas expansion, and for a fossil fuel phase out
  • Steer the country towards a just transition;
  • Speed up the passage of, and enact, the Climate Accountability Bill (CLIMA Bill); and
  • Start the process of litigating the world’s biggest oil and gas companies for climate impact damages to the Filipino people.

For requests for interviews and other information, please contact:

James Relativo, Communications Campaigner
Greenpeace Southeast Asia – Philippines
[email protected] | +63919 069 3424 (Viber & WhatsApp)