QUEZON CITY – Strengthening the integration of climate consciousness into the national budget, the Department of Agriculture’s Climate Resilient Agriculture Office (DA-CRAO) recently participated in a Key Informant Interview (KII) as part of the National Climate Change Expenditure Tagging (CCET) Impact Assessment. The session, conducted by the Climate Change Commission (CCC) in partnership with the University of the Philippines National College of Public Administration and Governance (UP-NCPAG) GRIT Labs, aimed to evaluate how climate tagging has influenced agricultural investment and decision-making since its inception. Leading the DA contingent was Assistant Secretary for Operations U-Nichols Manalo, alongside the CRAO technical team composed of CCET lead Planning Officer Wendy Estrabo and Project Development Officers Faith Lee and Sophia Tabora.

During the discussion, Asec. U-Nichols provided a historical perspective on the DA’s climate journey, tracing the evolution from the System-wide Climate Change Office (SWCCO) established in 2013 to the current CRAO. He emphasized that for the DA, climate change is not a side issue but a central threat to food security. Noting that agriculture is the most vulnerable sector, Asec. U-Nichols argued that the department has moved beyond generic tagging toward science-based interventions. He highlighted the importance of the Climate Risk Vulnerability Assessment (CRVA) and the National Color-Coded Agricultural Guide (NCCAG) map in ensuring that climate-tagged funds translate into specific, localized actions—such as providing saline-tolerant seeds to coastal farmers or drought-resilient varieties in El Niño-prone areas.

Planning Officer Wendy Estrabo, the primary lead for CCET tagging for the entire Department, detailed the rigorous process of consolidating climate data across all DA operating units—including bureaus, attached agencies and corporations, regional field offices, banner programs, and both locally funded and foreign-assisted projects. She emphasized the collaboration between CRAO, the Planning Service, and the Budget Division to ensure the Department’s multi-billion peso budget is accurately captured in the Online Submission of Budget Proposal (OSBP) system. To achieve this, Estrabo applies a “Climate Lens” to every Program, Activity, and Project (PAP). “We look at the ingredients, not just the name of the dish,” she explained, noting that the CRAO team analyzes specific interventions—such as solar-powered irrigation or climate-resilient machinery—to justify their classification under adaptation or mitigation, even when a program’s primary title does not explicitly mention climate change.

The technical team of Faith Lee and Sophia Tabora discussed the operational challenges of maintaining a consistent tagging system. A primary concern raised was the high turnover of “Contract of Service” (COS) personnel who often handle these technical reports at the bureau level, leading to a loss of institutional memory. To address this, the team recommended a more harmonized schedule between the CCC’s Quality Assurance Review (QAR) and the Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) deadlines. They suggested that climate tagging would be more effective if finalized during the National Expenditure Program (NEP) or General Appropriations Act (GAA) phase, rather than just during the initial proposal stage, to account for budget adjustments and executive priorities.

The interview concluded with a strong call for the institutionalization of climate offices within the government. Asec. U-Nichols and the CRAO team proposed that CCET compliance be integrated into the DA’s internal Performance Assessment System (PAS), effectively turning climate accountability into a “bragging right” for high-performing units. By moving from an ad hoc setup to a permanent bureaucratic structure, the DA aims to ensure that the 269 AMIA (Adaptation and Mitigation Initiatives in Agriculture) villages and thousands of farmers across 73 provinces continue to receive the support necessary to thrive in a changing climate. As the National CCET Impact Assessment continues, the DA-CRAO stands as a primary example of how technical tagging can evolve into a transformative tool for national resilience.