WHEREAS, it is the policy of the State to advance the general health and welfare of its citizens, promote sustainable development of its economy, and protect and conserve its natural resources for the benefit of all generations;

WHEREAS, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/47/193 of 22 December 1992, declaring March 22 of each year as World Day for Water, inviting each country to devote the Day, as appropriate in the national context, to concrete activities related to conservation and development of water resources;

WHEREAS, the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) seeks to ensure environmental sustainability, including sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, as one of its targets by year 2015;

WHEREAS, the Philippines has declared and confirmed its commitment to the goals of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC);

WHEREAS, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Australia, conceived and started in 2007 Earth Hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change;

WHEREAS, the UN has declared 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB) to disseminate information, promote the protection of biodiversity and encourage organizations, institutions, companies and individuals to take direct action to reduce the constant loss of biological diversity worldwide;

WHEREAS, realizing the gravity and the immediate threat of the extreme change occurring in the world ™s temperature, the melting of ice in the polar regions, and the rise in sea levels, and their critical impact on agricultural productivity, Republic Act 9729, otherwise known as the Climate Change Act of 2009 was passed into law on October 23, 2009 to mainstream climate change into government policy formulations, establishing the frameworks strategy and program on climate change, creating for this purpose the Climate Change Commission;

WHEREAS, the country is now experiencing the impacts of climate change, particularly a water crisis that threatens agricultural productivity, and an energy crisis affecting hydro-powered energy sources that leads to power outages;

WHEREAS, there is an urgent need to conserve water, a scarce resource which sustains life on Earth, because our quality of life and the health of our ecosystems -man ™s life-support systems - depends on water, which is now being threatened by climate change, over-extraction, pollution and wasteful use;

WHEREAS, the last week of March, which traditionally falls under the Lenten Season when the Roman Catholic Church commemorates the agony, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, is serendipitously the right time for sacrifice penitence and discipline from our inordinate and wasteful lifestyles of over-consumption of our natural resources, to heal and rehabilitate our damaged ecosystems to affirm life on Earth;

WHEREAS, the Office of the President, through the Executive Secretary, is enjoining all government agencies, entities and instrumentalities, to participate in WWF ™s Earth Hour every 27 th of March by voluntarily switching-off lights for one hour to save power, which is produced by sources that adds to global warming such as coal and other fossils fuels;

WHEREAS, the fight against climate change requires the urgent and thoughtful participation of all citizens, as well as the collective action of private and public sectors at all levels.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO, President of the Republic of the Philippines, by the virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby declare March 22 to 28, 2010 as œClean Water and Energy Week for a Healthy World,  beginning this year to coincide with the International Year of Biodiversity;

All government offices, agencies and instrumentalities including government-owned and controlled corporations are hereby enjoined to observe this important event through the conduct of relevant activities under the auspices of the Climate Change Commission in partnership with the member-agencies of the Advisory Board of the Commission, namely the Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, Department of Environments and Natural Resources, Department of Education, Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Health, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of National Defense/National Disaster Coordinating Council, Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Transportations and Communications, National Economic and Development Authority/Philippine Council for Sustainable Development, National Security Council, Philippine Commission on Women, League of Provinces, League of Cities, League of Municipalities, Liga ng mga Barangay, and other relevant government agencies, in cooperation with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and its attached agencies, the UNESCO-International Theatre Institute and the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas for cultural communications, in coordination with private sector institutions, and in liaison with the United Nations family of agencies and regional groups in the Philippines.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereto set my hand and caused the seal of the Republic of the Philippines to be affixed.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 15th day of March, in the year of Our Lord, Two Thousand and Ten.

 

	President of the Philippines
	(Sgd.)  GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO
By the President:
By the Executive Secretary:
(Sgd.) LEANDRO R. MENDOZA
Executive Secretary