MOUNTAIN Province has been awarded the biggest chunk of this year’s climate funds from the national government as part of the efforts to combat climate change and its effects.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. awarded climate adaptation funds to six local government units during the ceremonial turnover of the People’s Survival Fund (PSF) in Malacañang on Wednesday.
Worth a total of P541.44 million, the biggest chunk of the PSF went to Mountain Province to the tune of P271.15 million for the creation of a “climate field school” project proposed by the provincial government. Local governments must pass their proposals to the PSF Board, headed by the Department of Finance (DOF).
Eligible projects include those that concern water resources management, land management, agriculture and fisheries, health, and other activities that serve as guarantee for the risk insurance needs of farmers and agricultural workers.
The DOF prioritizes project proposals that have “an effective combination of engineering and non-engineering interventions, which directly address the area’s climate risks” and are based on scientific and historical data.
Mountain Province Governor Bonifacio C. Lacwasan, Jr. said the fund was obtained through the initiatives of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO), Mountain Province LGU and the Mountain Province State Polytechnic College.
The PSF was created under Republic Act 10174 more than a decade ago in 2012, allocating an annual P1-billion replenishable fund to help local government units finance climate adaptation projects, but only started with funding in 2015.
