Climate survivors urge Marcos to ensure climate loss and damage funds reach communities

Climate survivors, with the support of Greenpeace Philippines and other allies, called on President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr to ensure that funding for immense loss and damages from climate disasters reaches the communities most affected by the climate crisis.

At the venue of the 7th meeting of the Board for the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), activists and community representatives unfurled a massive “polluter’s climate bill” showing five trillion dollars — a partial accounting of estimated loss and damage caused by emissions from the top five investor-owned oil and gas firms since the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Climate survivors unfurl a five-trillion-dollar “polluter’s climate bill” outside the FRLD board meeting.

Frontline communities demand accountability and direct funding access

Survivors from Marikina City, Salcedo in Eastern Samar, and Tubigon in Bohol joined the action, representing communities repeatedly hit by severe storms and catastrophic flooding.

“We are here today outside the venue for the board meeting for the Fund Responding to Loss and Damage to demand an end to impunity and greed from climate polluters and make them pay,” said Arnold Obguia, a climate survivor from Bilangbilangan in Tubigon. “We survivors have repeatedly paid for destruction caused by the rich and the greedy, while struggling to recover again and again.”

He urged President Marcos and the Philippine government to show leadership as host of the FRLD board, stressing the fund must be accessible directly to affected communities without corruption or diversion.

Greenpeace Campaigner Jefferson Chua echoed the demand, saying greed from fossil fuel corporations and corruption in climate funding weaken protections for Filipinos. “President Marcos must act now and make polluters pay,” he said.

Advocates push for Climate Accountability Bill as global pledges fall short

The symbolic bill displayed includes losses such as PHP47.6 billion from Typhoon Odette and cites up to PHP1.089 trillion in climate project corruption that exacerbates risk for Filipinos.

Maya Quirino of the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center said current pledges to the FRLD — just $786 million, or 0.01 percent of the polluters’ climate bill — show a massive financing gap. She urged President Marcos to push landmark legislation, including certifying the proposed Climate Accountability Bill as urgent.

The FRLD, under the UNFCCC, aims to support vulnerable developing nations facing irreversible climate impacts. Wealthy nations have pledged $731 million to the fund, far below the estimated $400 billion required annually by Global South countries like the Philippines.