Thank you very honorable Chair. To the honorable gentlemen and ladies of the 19th congress, good morning!

It is our honor as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to present you with our proposed budget for the Fiscal Year 2023.

May we begin by apprising this body that we aim to invest in a scientific, risk-based approach to the integrated management of our environment and the sustainable utilization of our natural resources. We see these as critical pathways to the achievement of the President’s 8-point agenda and the principal mandates of our department in the service of our country. We intend to define some new environment social and governance standards and apply some key performance metrics to our programs and projects. We shall also strive then to ensure that our legislation is evidence-informed based on stakeholder consultation and bolstered by the appropriate, current, and emerging and practical technologies. We will strive for nexus governance of our environment that is technically-efficient, adaptive, responsive, and climate and disaster-resilient. This is especially important as we work towards the digitalization of our processes and a new information architecture that will yield transparency and accountability. As we look towards the utilization of machine learning and artificial intelligence in our monitoring and our analytics. We trust that these will enable us to be of greater service to all our stakeholders.

For 2023, we are respectfully requesting a total amount of 23, 041, 980 pesos to support the thrust and priorities of our shared mission for resilient and sustainable development. Our first priority is the mapping and accounting of the country’s natural resources by combining geospatial intelligence, economics, and natural, social, and industrial science. This work of natural capital accounting is necessarily trans-disciplinal and will therefore entail close collaboration and synergies with different departments in order to achieve desired impacts. The seeds of these efforts are already underway and are being spearheaded by NEDA, the Philippine Statistics Authority, the Philippine Space Agency, and others.

Secondly, we would like to help build resilient cities and municipalities – one community at a time. Through the risk-sensitive and balanced approach, to the responsible and ethical stewardship of our natural resources. This will allow us to make sure that no ecosystem will be brought to its dipping point and that no one is left out or left behind. Our work is from ridge to reef, along and under the land management transacts from rural to urban. The role of the DENR as the protector of the natural systems that provide food, water, and energy, needed as the lifeblood of our economy is difficult to diminish. While cities are the engines of growth, they depend on ecosystem services largely outside of their political and administrative boundaries and depend on the natural capital that actually belongs to the country. We must measure, preserve and enhance what we value if we would like to achieve a just and equitable growth and increase opportunities for a safe and sustainable quality of life for this generation and the succeeding generations.

As the Lead of the Cabinet Cluster and Climate Change Adaptation, Mitigation and Disaster Risk Reduction and the Chair of the Task Force Build-Back-Better, we will confront the climate emergency through practical yet transformative adaptation using traditional knowledge, science, technology, engineering, and innovation. We live in a multi-hazard environment were risk from natural, human end-used, biological, and even natural technological hazards sometimes compound and cascade.

On water security, and resulting food and energy security, this is our priority as well. It is particularly vulnerable to climate change and we are no stranger to the situation every time there is a strong typhoon. Water is everywhere, but there is none to drink.
In closing, we shall strive to continuously protect our indigenous species as part of our natural heritage, our pride and our identity, while enabling our indigenous communities to harness this resources for the socio-economic and commercial benefits they may bring, to them and to our country. We respectfully invite you to join us on this journey and trust in your sincere support as we embarks on this new course, on this new mission. Thank you very much Mr. Chair.