President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said Thursday that the Filipinos must prepare for global challenges of climate change.

This developed as Lakas-Kampi-CMD standard bearer Gilberto “Gibo’’ Teodoro Jr. said yesterday that both national and local governments should take advantage of this year’s El Nino phenomenon in conducting massive de-clogging activities in the country’s heavily silted and polluted waterways.

“The Philippines faces climate change. When I was in Copenhagen, I was pleased to report that the Philippines has good carbon footprint. The world emits an average of six tons of carbon per capita, and they want to lessen it to 3 tons. In the Philippines, we only emit 1.6 tons. However, our country is one of the most affected and vulnerable to climate change due to our location. We must stress on adaptation in order to face climate change,” said Arroyo, on the eve of the 28th anniversary of the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Industry and Energy Research and Development (DoST-PCIERD).

Arroyo said that President said that the government, upon the recommendation of DoST-PCIERD, has invested in the installation of more radar in Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) to boost its capability in giving accurate weather reports. The radars will be fully operational within two years.

The government has also allotted a budget to fund the scholarship of science and mathematics students in the country.

Teodoro said such pre-emptive measures would assure that low lying areas would not be inundated again by floodwaters when storms in the same magnitude of “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” hit the country again during rainy season.

“What’s good about this El Nino phenomenon is that clogged creeks and canals are already drying up and making them much easier for clean-up crews to extract silt and other refuse,” he said.