03 September 2015 - The Philippines affirmed on September 02 the legislative department’s full support for the global post-2015 development agenda, which world leaders will adopt later this month at the United Nations on the eve of the organization’s 70th founding anniversary.
Philippine Ambassador to the United Nations Lourdes Yparraguirre reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Giorgidi Aggabao (4th district of Isabela) reiterated the Philippine government’s commitment to eradicate poverty in the country and enable 100 million Filipinos to reap the benefits of the new global agenda.
In his statement, Deputy Speaker Aggabao emphasized that, “Our constituents elected us and placed their trust on us to help transform their communities for the better. Our mandate to make laws allows us to do just that and to ensure that our economic growth is inclusive and sustainable. To do this, we continued to transform the Congress itself into an exemplar of performance and accountability.”
Deputy Speaker Aggabao joined over 170 speakers and deputy speakers from nearly 140 countries at the Fourth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament organized at UN headquarters by the Inter-Parliamentary Union or IPU, the global organization of parliaments that works to establish democracy, peace and cooperation among peoples.
The three-day conference, held once every five years, adopted a declaration with the world’s parliamentarians pledging to support the post-2015 development agenda by seeking to reconnect people with democracy, tackling the growing public skepticism and disconnect with politics, and acknowledging that extraordinary efforts would be needed to build a world that people want by turning the tide against the many challenges that undermine democracy, peace and development.
The post-2015 development agenda consists of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their 169 targets that cover the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. It will succeed the Millennium Development Goals which culminate this year.
IPU also committed to working to achieve reaching Goal 16 on the promotion of peaceful, inclusive societies and the building of effective, accountable and inclusive institutions.
Deputy Speaker Aggabao underscored the post-2015 development agenda’s recognition of lawmakers’ essential role as co-owners of the agenda.
“Nowhere is this role more pronounced than through our most important constitutional duty … the national budget law,” Deputy Speaker Aggabao emphasized, explaining that Congress has allotted increasingly greater sums for education, healthcare, housing, social welfare, employment, infrastructure and poverty alleviation through the years.
“Together, they account for an almost 40 percent share of the national budget,” he underscored.
Deputy Speaker Aggabao also stressed that migrants’ rights and welfare, human rights, gender equality and the empowerment of women, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and recognition of the special challenges facing middle-income countries like the Philippines, are some of the SDG targets that are closest to the heart of the country.
IPU noted, for example, that while some progress has been made on commitments to increasing women’s participation in parliament since the 2010 Speakers’ Conference, the pace of change remains “unacceptably slow overall”. Some countries have announced planned changes to electoral laws that will ensure more equitable representation of women, youth and minorities.
Deputy Speaker Aggabao also underlined parliamentarians’ contributions to the peaceful settlement of disputes between countries through the rule of law, without which the post-2015 development agenda will be compromised.
This was also echoed by other speakers who called for greater global peace and security by solving conflicts, ending terrorism and violent extremism, and protecting migrants and refugees.
In his summing up, IPU President Saber Chowdhury of Bangladesh acknowledged the enormity of the challenges that everyone faces but expressed hope that there will be resolve to overcome them. He stated that, “Solutions to what may seem overwhelming challenges are there. They require a different mindset, a new way of doing politics. Parliaments and their leaders must step into the political breach as the voice of the people and grasp the opportunity to shape a new destiny for the world and our planet.” END