MANILA, Philippines — The Climate Change Commission (CCC) welcomed President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s guidance to move the country from reactive to predictive governance, describing it as a strategic direction that reinforces the importance of science, evidence, and long-term planning in public governance.
The CCC said the President’s guidance is supported by the country’s evolving climate governance architecture, particularly the National Adaptation Plan (NAP), the Nationally Determined Contribution Implementation Plan (NDCIP), and the National Climate Risk Management Framework (NCRMF), which strengthen the government’s capacity to anticipate risks and integrate climate information into planning, investment, and decision-making.
“Predictive governance recognizes that good governance is increasingly measured not only by how effectively institutions respond after crises occur, but also by how well they anticipate risks and make better public decisions before those risks become disasters,” CCC Vice Chairperson and Executive Director Robert E.A. Borje said.
The Commission highlighted the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) 2023–2050, completed under the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., as the country’s first long-term national adaptation strategy. The Plan seeks to reduce climate vulnerability by building adaptive capacity and resilience while integrating climate change adaptation into relevant policies, plans, programs, public investment, and development planning. It also provides the framework for a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to adaptation, guided by the best available science, climate information, and risk assessments.
Complementing the NAP is the Nationally Determined Contribution Implementation Plan (NDCIP), which translates the Philippines’ climate commitments into coordinated implementation by identifying sectoral priorities, institutional responsibilities, financing requirements, and monitoring arrangements. Together with the National Climate Risk Management Framework (NCRMF)—which adopts a unified, science- and risk-based approach to climate risk management, including probabilistic climate risk assessment and evaluation—the country’s climate policy framework strengthens risk-informed governance and supports more integrated public decision-making.
“These policies are governance instruments,” Borje said. “They strengthen the government’s capacity to integrate evidence into planning, align investments with long-term national priorities, and improve the quality of public decision-making.”
Borje said the President’s guidance on predictive governance also charts a longer-term direction for public institutions.
“As government strengthens its capacity for science-based planning, futures thinking, and multi-risk governance, predictive governance can progressively evolve into a more prescriptive approach to governance—not by prescribing outcomes, but by ensuring that science, evidence, and foresight consistently shape today’s decisions for tomorrow’s Philippines.”
The Commission reaffirmed its commitment to continue advancing the implementation of the NAP, the NDC, and the NCRMF in partnership with national government agencies, local government units, the private sector, development partners, academia, civil society, and communities.
The Climate Change Commission is the Philippines’ lead policy-making body on climate change. Under Republic Act No. 9729, or the Climate Change Act of 2009, as amended by Republic Act No. 10174, the Commission is mandated to formulate policies, coordinate, monitor, and evaluate government programs and action plans on climate change, and ensure the mainstreaming of climate change into national, sectoral, and local development plans and programs.
