Senate to hold necrological services for former Senator Juan Flavier

MANILA-The Senate will hold necrological services for former Senator and Health Secretary Juan Flavier when it resumes its sessions on November 17. Flavier, who served as senator from 1995 to 2007, succumbed to pneumonia last Thursday at age 79.

            Senate Secretary Oscar Yabes said senators to be led by Senate President Franklin Drilon would wait for Flavier’s remains at 9:30 a.m. at the main entrance of the Senate building.

            He said the senators, together with Flavier’s wife and children, the Senate Secretary, Sergeant-at-Arms, Deputy Secretaries, Senate Legal Counsel, Directors-General would escort the urn containing the remains of the former senator to the Session Hall at the Second floor of the building.

            The urn will be carried by pallbearers of the Philippine National Police.

Yabes said senators will deliver eulogies for the former legislator around 9:55 a.m. He said the Senate would also present a resolution expressing the Senate’s “profound sympathy and sincere condolence on the death of the former senator” to Flavier’s family.

“The hard working legislator registered a perfect attendance during the sessions and was instrumental in the enactment of landmark legislations promoting public health care and improving the quality of life of the people,” according to the resolution.

“The passing away of the illustrious senator is a great loss not only to his bereaved family but to the nation as well,” it added.

After the public viewing of the former senator, the Senate will host lunch for the family and relatives of the late Honorable Flavier, senators and guests at the Recto-Laurel Rooms, according to Yabes.

He said the pallbearer will carry the urn to the Ground Floor after lunch for its departure with senators and senate officials in attendance.

“After the departure hymn, the designated pallbearers shall fold the national flag and hand it over to the Senate President who, in turn, will present the flag to the former senator’s family,” Yabes said.

The Senate has been flying the flag at half mast since Flavier’s death as a symbol of its mourning.

Flavier’s remains were moved to the main office of the Department of Health in Manila Tuesday morning. His colleagues requested for a public viewing at the DOH, where he served as its secretary from 1992 to 1995 before he was elected as senator under the administration of former President Fidel Ramos. He will be cremated after the DOH viewing.

            Flavier authored and sponsored several bills that became law such as the Traditional and Alternative Medicine Act (Republic Act 8423); Social Reform and Poverty Alleviation Act (R.A. 8425); Philippine Clean Air Act (R.A. 8749); Indigenous People’s Rights Act (R.A.8371);  Anti-Money Laundering Act (R.A. 9160); law declaring Eidl Fitr as a National Holiday (R.A. 9177); Barangay Micro-Business Enterprise (R.A. 9178); National Service Training Program for Tertiary Students (R.A. 9163); the Dangeous Drugs Act of 2002 (R.A. 9165); the Plant Variety Protection Act (R.A. 9168);  the Philippine Nursing Act (R.A. 9173) and the Tobacco Regulation Act (R.A. 9211).

As UN Panel Warns, Time Running Out to Reach 2ºC Warming Target, Legarda Renews Call for Greater Climate Action

MANILA-Senator Loren Legarda today renewed her call for greater climate change action, particularly significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, as she expressed alarm over the pronouncement of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that time is running out to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius.

Legarda, the United Nations Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation for Asia-Pacific, said that the international community, all national governments, all sectors of society and all citizens of the world must unite and work double time to limit global warming to a safer two degrees Celsius because beyond that, the Earth will suffer rising seas, worsening natural hazards and extinction of many species.

“We have been repeatedly warned of what will happen if the Earth’s temperature warms to at least four degrees Celsius—worsening drought and flooding, extreme heat waves, water scarcity, stronger tropical cyclones, and loss of biodiversity. We have to do everything now to prevent such a scenario,” she stressed.

“We hope that world leaders will commit to lead their people out of the crises and uncertainties brought about by climate change by setting and carrying out ambitious targets on cutting down greenhouse gas emissions, among other environmental protection measures. Here in our country, we also continue to encourage the commitment of more local governments, government agencies and other organizations in working for a climate-resilient nation,” she added.

Legarda said that as a nation that is among the most vulnerable to disasters and the effects of climate change, the Philippines should influence other nations to take the necessary actions to halt the warming of the Earth’s temperature through the Philippine government’s own initiatives.

The Senator said that the Climate Change Act, the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act, and the People’s Survival Fund Act, as well as other environmental laws, should all be fully operational and implemented down to the local level.

Legarda added that the People’s Survival Fund now has one billion in programmed funds under the proposed 2015 national budget intended to finance climate change adaptation activities of local governments and organizations.

“Our laws, which have been considered model legislation by the UN, must be complemented by effective implementation. This we must do as we continue to call on industrialized countries, which have a historical responsibility for climate change, to financially and technologically assist developing countries in efforts to reduce their vulnerability and adapt to its consequences, while reducing their own greenhouse gas emissions,” she said.

“World leaders must not allow people to continuously suffer from floods, hunger, displacement, and economic setbacks. Climate change, along with the extreme weather events it causes, knows no boundaries and the only way forward is a united global action towards mitigation, adaptation and resilience,” Legarda concluded.