Colleagues from the PSF Board, the National Resilience Council Executive Director Mr. Silvestre Barrameda Jr.; Head of Sustainability of the Gokongwei Group Ms. Yvonne Flores; the Climate Change Commission, Department of Economy, Planning, and Development; Department of Interior and Local Government; Philippine Commission on Women; and to our friends from the National Commission of Indigenous Peoples; Local Government Academy; Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines; Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities; Department of Science and Technology and of course to our partners from the Development Bank of the Philippines and the Global Green Growth Institute who have made this event possible: Good morning.

On behalf of the Undersecretary Maria Luwalhati Dorotan Tiuseco serving as the Designated Alternate Chair of the People’s Survival Fund, allow me to welcome you on this meaningful occasion.

The PSF is widely recognized for its innovative mechanism in providing direct access to local communities to assist in designing and implementing projects for climate change adaptation. Since the inception of the Fund, we have onboarded 19 Local Government Units either through full funding of their respective projects or through the provision of resources for readiness which we call the Project Development Grant. There have been significant strides made by the Secretariat, together with the Board, in streamlining the process with a much simplified process application as well as enhancing its operations.

Fortunately, these improvements have come to fruition. We are pleased to receive the replenishment of One Billion Pesos under the General Appropriations Act 2025 – the first since its inception. This opportunity brings more than increasing the number of our project beneficiaries; it is a testament to our commitment of empowering local communities to deliver impact through science-based interventions.

The PSF Plus is a proposal to the Green Climate Fund that aims to further strengthen the PSF. Today, we invite everyone to take part in the discussion to help us in the development of a proposal that will provide an opportunity for us to employ a whole of society approach in accelerating implementation of our National Adaptation Plan — addressing the four climate risk drivers identified and targeting our interventions to the most vulnerable communities.

More than the provision of grants, we envision the PSF Plus to assist in institutionalizing solutions that will address the challenges in capacity, access to data, harmonization of local plans with national development agenda, and delivery of meaningful interventions that address unique challenges that each of our communities face.

Just last week, I had the privilege of joining the 43rd Board Meeting of the Green Climate Fund representing the Philippines as the Alternate Board Member of the Asia Pacific Group Constituency where we have advocated for a more robust systems approach in accessing the fund, implementing projects, and monitoring outcomes. We are excited to share learnings from key discussions during the session.

Maraming salamat po.