By Billy Begas
Deputy Speaker and Antique Rep. Loren Legarda has filed a measure seeking to develop and implement an ecosystem and natural accounting system to determine the quantity of the country’s natural resources.
Legarda said House Bill 9181 will allow government planners to have an understanding of the natural capital available and expendable that can be used for economic growth.
She said that there has not been an accounting of whether the legally harvested sand and gravel is enough to meet the needs of both the Build Build Build program and the demands of the private sector.
“Good housekeeping requires that you budget what you have and not live beyond your means. It is the same for national patrimony. Not taking into account how much we have and how to allocate it drives our ecosystems to ruin. The climate crisis and biodiversity losses that could potentially lead to the next pandemic highlight the urgency of having this bill approved and implemented,” Legarda explained.
Legarda said the proposed Philippine Ecosystem and Natural Capital Accounting System (PENCAS) Law of 2021 adheres to the United Nations System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) that was introduced by the UN in 2006.
She said the consumption benefits of products and amenities provided by the natural environment, waste disposal services, and pollution are part of producing marketed commodities but are not valuated (positively or negatively) and reflected in national income accounting.
“While it is difficult to undertake this valuation, and many would say it would tend to commodify what is priceless, the lack of such valuation has led to the appreciation of these services as having zero instead of priceless value,” Legarda said.
She added that the indicators and standards generated by the national income accounting system are vital information for economic management and policymaking.
“They serve as the basis for socio-economic planning, formulation of development programs, and policy analysis to aid legislation, among others.
Legarda stressed that it is important that the national income accounts reflect a more accurate state of development and economic performance of the country and should incorporate both environmental and non-environmental economic inputs and outputs for policymakers to make responsive, relevant, and effective laws, plans, and programs necessary for national development.
Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)
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