45
It ruins our budget. Sometimes we have no choice but to use our
child’s allowance, and we have no way of replacing it. Where do we
get the money?214
Workers in urban areas are not spared. Ernesto Cruz, president of the National
Confederation of Transport Workers Union, narrated that jeepney drivers in urban
areas who used to work for twelve to fourteen hours a day could now only work for a
few hours in the morning during the summer months. The intense heat, compounded
by heavy traffic and vehicle emissions, makes it too dangerous to work.215 Meanwhile,
they cannot ply their routes during heavy rains because floodwaters would damage
their engines, making “heat and rain … both enemies.”216 These workers, who
could barely make enough to sustain a family of five even when they were driving
twelve-hour shifts, are left with almost nothing to feed their families.
Indubitably, the impacts of climate change rob individuals and communities of their
ability to make a living. It places a heavy burden on workers across industries who face
job insecurity, lower income, poor working conditions, and increased poverty.
vi. Right to Adequate Housing
The right to housing is enshrined in the ICESCR as a component of the right to an
adequate standard of living.217 The CESCR clarifies that the right to housing “should
not be interpreted in a narrow or restrictive sense which equates it with, for example,
the shelter provided by merely having a roof over one’s head or views shelter
exclusively as a commodity. Rather it should be seen as the right to live somewhere in
security, peace and dignity.”218 Thus, adequate housing should include: legal security
of tenure; availability of services, materials, facilities and infrastructure; affordability;
habitability; accessibility; location; and cultural adequacy.219 Climate change denies
people of all of these. Particularly, the IPCC has stated that coastal settlements and
214
T.S.N. of the First Inquiry Hearing dated 27-28 March 2018, at 113.
215
Id. at 61.
216
Id. at 163.
217
ICESCR, supra note 153, art. 11 (1).
218
United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural, General Comment No. 4: The Right to
Adequate Housing (Article 11 (1) of the Covenant), E/1992/23 (Dec. 13, 1991).
219
Id.
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