GETTING AN OPPORTUNITY TO SAY THANK YOU. Cong. Edgar Chatto (right) gets an opportunity to say “Thank you” to Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go (center), who used to chair the Senate Health Committee. Sen. Go was instrumental in the passage of Republic Act 11883 , An Act Converting Governor Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital to Governor Celestino Gallares Multi Specialty Medical Complex in Tagbilaran City and Cortes, Bohol. Chatto also thanked the support given by Sen. Sonny Angara (not in the photo) who filed in the Senate the counterpart bill of the House bill authored by Chatto, the 1st District solon. Also shown in the photo is former Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Asst. Sec. now Cong. Mitzi Cajayon-Uy (left). Contributed photo
First District Cong. Edgar Chatto remains as the chairman of the House Committee on Climate Change in the 19th Congress, according to reports.
He was among those nominated to head a standing committee at the House of the Representatives on the first day of the regular session of the Lower House on July 26, 2022.
Chatto welcomed the appointment as the present Marcos administration has prioritized climate change in its development agenda for the country.
In his first State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said: “All this impetus for development and growth, we undertake within the context of accelerating climate change and extreme weather conditions.”
Moreover, Marcos Jr. highlighted, in his SONA, the mitigation of climate change in relation to the economy, energy development, agriculture, disaster preparedness, among others.
During his chairmanship of the Climate Change panel during the 18th Congress, Chatto pushed for the declaration of a state of environmental and climate emergency and championed the call for the Philippines to seek climate justice.
He also had the Committee partnered with Greenpeace Philippines and Rice Watch Action Network in the creation of the Bohol Climate Emergency Response Roadmap for Small Islands.
The said roadmap was turned over to the Provincial Government of Bohol, to help the province mitigate the effects of rising sea levels which may affect small islands in various areas of Bohol.
It can be recalled that Chatto, as vice governor of Bohol, led the passage of the Bohol Environment Code.
Moreover, during his tenure as Bohol governor, an ordinance was passed that prohibited the establishment of a coal-fuelled power plant here in the province.
Reports say that Chatto interacted with House Committee Secretaries on the legislative agenda after SONA. He met with Rommel Reyes of the House Committee on Climate Change, Erwin Lara of the Committee on Health, Glenda Daco on Committee on Land Use together with Lawyer Jessica Schuck, Chief of Staff and Committee on Climate Change Secretariat, lawyer Maria Angelica Alonso, Mary Grace Noog and Mary Ann Ordovez.