Senate approves loss and damage fund board bill

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate on Monday passed on third and final reading a bill which confers juridical personality and legal entity to Loss and Damage Fund Board (LDFB) to allow it to enter into contracts.

The senators approved Senate Bill (SB) 2780 which grants juridical personality and legal capacity to the LDFB in responding to loss and damage due to climate change.

The LDFB, an international body, was established in Nov. 2022 to assist developing countries that are vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.

The country has only 90 days or until Oct. 7 to confer a juridical entity on LDFB.

«The [passage of the] measure is our obligation to provide the enabling law to grant the requisite juridical personality to the Board, vesting it with full legal capacity to enter into contract,» said Sen. Imee Marcos, chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

The senator said that through the LSFB, financial support will be provided in the form of grants and concessional financing that can be utilized by any eligible country.

«As of today, the total pledges by 19 developed countries to the Loss and Damage Fund amounts to $792 million and upwards of 10 million dollars have already been paid up. The Fund was operationalized last year by the establishment of the Loss and Damage Board,» Marcos said.

«Loss and damage» is a term used by the United Nations to describe the harms inflicted by climate change that go beyond what people can adapt to.

It can include lives lost; monetary costs from the destruction of infrastructure, buildings, crops and other property; and the loss of entire places or ways of life.