support of this investigation. We have Tacloban City; Palo, Leyte; Capalonga,
Camarines Norte; Marawi City; and, recently, Baguio City.
The Commission is in good company for leading with courage. Stories and
the quest for justice go hand in hand: if injustice is not given voice, it cannot be
healed. And if telling your story as our witnesses have done, is in itself a choice
about how to use the power you hold, choosing to listen is also a choice about
how to use one’s power. In holding spaces for these stories to be heard and the
faces to be seen; in taking an inclusive, creative, and global approach, grounded
in the local threats faced by Filipinos, the Commission has chosen to host an
unprecedented global dialogue about climate change, human rights, who is
responsible, and what climate justice solutions are possible.
At the end of the day, our vision for a more beautiful tomorrow is simple: it
is one where we bring the law ever closer to justice in protecting human
dignity. Because at the end of the day, human rights are experienced very
personally: farmer without land, fisherman without catch, children without school
books, mother without home. It is a world where each of us, and the those who
are in the most vulnerable situations first, have all they need to flourish. Victory
will be achieved when we have a world of dignity for all. When the words “climate
change” are placed firmly in the history books as a scourge and sorrow from
which we emerged, if not unscathed, wiser and braver.
Thank you. Maraming, maraming salamat po.
Closing Statement for the Petitioners | 8