Duterte: UN, industrialized countries are hypocrites

MANILA, Philippines — Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday hit the United Nations (UN) and industrialized nations for wanting developing countries to take great strides in combating the effects of climate change.

During the second leg of the presidential debates, Duterte was asked how the country could stay committed to the UN agreement against climate change despite the presence of coal power plants in the Philippines.

The Philippines was one of the countries that pledged to limit the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by human activities.

Duterte, however, noted that the Philippines barely contributes to the carbon footprint of the planet and claimed that industrialized countries do not comply with the UN pact.

"Sila ang ayaw. It's not fair. I'm not saying that coal is right but I'm just saying itong United Nations at (industrialized) countries are really hypocrites," Duterte said.

The Davao City mayor stressed that the country needs renewable energy to develop.

"Al Gore came here, talked about environment (and) climate change. Bakit hindi niya makumbinsi 'yung bansa niya?... Why are they coming here telling us what to do when, as a matter of fact, we need energy to develop. We are just a developing nation," Duterte said.

Meanwhile, former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas emphasized the need to start the transition toward clean energy to lessen the impact of global warming in the country.

Sen. Grace Poe also listed possible mitigation projects against global warming such as constructing more dams, water entrapment facilities and flood control projects.

Climate change was one of the issues tackled in the presidential debate at the University of the Philippines campus in Cebu City on Sunday.

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