Greenpeace to BBM: Address Both Corruption and Climate Injustice

Greenpeace has strongly criticized President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr’s recent State of the Nation Address (SONA), saying it failed to address the major role of fossil fuel companies in worsening the climate crisis that continues to devastate the Philippines.

While Marcos condemned corrupt officials responsible for failed flood control efforts, Greenpeace senior climate campaigner Virginia Benosa-Llorin said the President overlooked the real culprits — fossil fuel companies whose operations continue to fuel climate disasters while profiting from destruction.

Greenpeace banners calling for climate justice [photo credit: Noel Celis | Greenpeace]

Greenpeace banners calling for climate justice [photo credit: Noel Celis | Greenpeace]

Filipinos suffer while fossil fuel giants escape accountability

In the wake of severe flooding caused by the southwest monsoon and tropical cyclones Crising, Dante, and Emong — disasters that led to PHP5 billion in infrastructure damages, PHP500 million in agricultural losses, and the deaths of at least 30 people — Greenpeace denounced the President’s remarks as short-sighted.

“This SONA showed that the President remains blind to the true perpetrators of the climate crisis,” said Benosa-Llorin. “While local corruption must be addressed, ignoring the trillion-dollar profits of major oil and gas companies that directly contribute to these disasters is a dangerous omission.”

She added that by calling the climate crisis the “new normal,” Marcos implied that Filipinos must simply accept the consequences of emissions from corporations and wealthy nations. Greenpeace emphasized that affected communities are already taking action — filing lawsuits and confronting these companies — and it is time for national leadership to do the same.

Greenpeace urges Marcos to support climate justice and the CLIMA Bill

Ahead of the SONA, Greenpeace had called on the President to embrace climate justice, citing the recent advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice affirming that access to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a basic human right. The opinion is expected to strengthen global climate policy and legal efforts to hold polluters accountable.

Greenpeace reiterated that President Marcos must exercise his power to demand that major polluters finance the country’s loss and damage mitigation efforts. Infrastructure, early warning systems, and climate-resilient programs should be paid for by those most responsible for the crisis — not by the Filipino people.

The group called on Marcos to urgently back key climate actions, including:

  • Demanding loss and damage payments from fossil fuel companies and wealthy nations;

  • Calling for an end to oil and gas expansion and supporting a fossil fuel phaseout;

  • Leading the country toward a just transition;

  • Fast-tracking and enacting the Climate Accountability (CLIMA) Bill; and

  • Initiating legal action against the world’s biggest fossil fuel corporations for damages.

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