Paper short abstract:

Considering that the Philippines tops the most at risk country to natural disasters (World Risk Index, 2022), the authors are eager to highlight the limiting Filipino cultural practices as a source of hindrance in having a sustainable approach in climate change policy-making on a national scale.

Paper long abstract:

The World Risk Index 2022 reports that the Philippines is ranked first out of one-hundred and ninety-three countries when it comes to natural disasters. A frequent life experience, an average of nineteen out of the eighty developing annual typhoons make landfall in the Philippine area of responsibility. The normalisation of inconvenience has imprinted on the Filipino culture and way of life which has mirrored succeeding Philippine government administrations’ varying approaches on climate change policies and laws hindering the ability to implement sustainable Disaster Response and Risk Mitigation practices. Considered as the largest demographic affected during and post-natural disasters in the Philippines, the burden shared by Filipino women who are traditionally identified as household managers, have higher vulnerability in an occurrence of natural disasters. This study poses the question on how the cultural outlook on the normalcy of inconvenience has shaped the development of sustainable climate change policies and its effect on women during and post-Typhoon Rai (Odette) in December 2021. The initial findings of this study concluded that the political administrative changes resulted into a shift in approaching climate change policies which thereby hindered sustainability in addressing the needs of women.