The Climate Change Commission (CCC) welcomed on Sunday a Senate probe on the leadership of the agency as an opportunity to clarify “misperceptions” on its task to address the pressing issue of climate change.

“We are prepared to share with the Senate all relevant information to clarify misperceptions. We will substantiate our facts to calm all suspicions and clarify all doubts, with the fullest disclosure of our records even before a Senate hearing is conducted,” CCC Vice Chairman Secretary Heherson Alvarez said in response to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile's call for a Senate investigation on the commission's task.

Alvarez pointed out that for the past eight months, “the Commission has been working as a collegial body, as mandated by Republic Act (RA) 9729 or the Climate Change Act of 2009, and maintained that nothing is being implemented or pursued without the approval of the Commission.”

Enrile claimed that the commission met only once or twice since its formation in 2009, when the CCC was directed to meet at least once every three months.

The Senate President also said that the collegial nature of the commission "has been, by and large, laid aside," adding that "decisions that ought to have been done by the Commission as a collegial body, was done and implemented by the Vice Chairperson alone."

Alvarez noted that under the RA 9729, the commission was created as a policy-making body presided by the President, with the commissioners and members of the Advisory Board composed of Cabinet Secretaries and representatives of NGO/CSO, academe and business sectors, deciding as a collegial body.

“Since the law was signed in October 2009, the commission has approved the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the new law and the National Framework Strategy on Climate Change (NFSCC). While the National Climate Change Action Plan (NCCAP) is now being drafted,” he said.

“The social investigations for these documents cannot be done with the President presiding all the time. The draft outputs are presented to the Commission presided by the President, with the Advisory Board, meeting once every three months as required by law,” he pointed out.

Alvarez cited the Nationally Appropriate Mitigation and Adaptation (NAMAs), to be submitted to the United Nations.