Senate OKs enabling bill for Loss and Damage Fund Board

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate passed on the third and final reading the bill that confers a legal personality to the Loss and Damage Fund Board (LDFB). 

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. urged Congress to pass the Senate bill after the Philippines was selected to host the Loss and Damage Fund. The Loss and Damage Fund is an endowment initiated by the United Nations to help countries disproportionately affected by climate change.

Sen. Imee Marcos, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s sister, steered Senate Bill 2780 into its passage in the upper chamber. The bill was in substitution of Senate Bills  2734, 2747, 2748, 2750, and 2751, which were filed by  Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada, Majority Leader Francis Tolentino, Senators Loren Legarda, Ramon Bong Revilla Jr., and Imee, respectively. 

“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,” Imee said in her sponsorship speech on Monday. 

The newly passed bill would allow the LDFB to acquire and dispose of properties, institute legal proceedings, conclude and enter a housing arrangement with the World Bank, and undertake other necessary activities. 

“This, indeed, is a breakthrough in the decades-long and oft-acrimonious debate on funding for loss and damage brought about by climate change,” Imee  said. 

The president has long vied for the Loss and Damage Fund. The Philippines was selected to host the Fund in July 2024. During his third State of the Nation Address, the president told Congress that an enabling law was needed for the country to carry out its role as a host. 

“Precisely because of our inherent vulnerability, we are proactive advocates for heightened climate responsibility and justice on the global stage. To this end, we have secured a seat on the Board of the Loss and Damage Fund. Further, the Philippines has also been selected as host country to that fund,” the president said in his Address to Congress. 

“This will require an enabling law from Congress to confer the legal personality and capacity to the Board,” he told lawmakers. 

The Loss and Damage Fund was established at the COP28 in 2023 when world leaders from almost 200 countries agreed to the fund.