INTRODUCTION TO PHILIPPINE ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS:

INTRO:

Environmental pollution is an incurable disease. It can only be prevented.

As people become more vigilant about the state of the environment and
insistent that offenders of environmental laws be held accountable, the
Philippine Environmental laws and government regulations are in place with
the intent of protecting the environment and aid people from all the walks of
life in their pursuit to a balanced and healthful ecology.

Indeed, the environment has become an important issue. It is imperative that

people should be fully informed on what the relevant environmental laws are
so that they may be fully aware what are allowed and what are prohibited in
relation to actions they take towards the environment.

Section 16, Article II of the 1987 Constitution

The State shall protect and advance the right of the people to a
balanced and healthful ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony
of nature.

The right of the people to a balanced and healthful ecology is upheld by

the Constitution. It is, therefore, the mandate of the State to safeguard the
right and to provide the resources to implement this policy for the benefit of
all citizens.

A PROVISION in the 1987 Constitution, which once some saw as

unnecessary, has been gradually gaining attention. Section 16 of Article II
says: “The State shall protect and advance the right of the people to a
balanced and healthful ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of
nature.”

In tandem with it is Section 15, which says:

“The State shall protect and promote the right to health of the people
and instill health consciousness among them.”
Section 16 is unusual among those found in Article II in that, whereas almost
all the other provisions in the Article are not self-executing but need
implementing legislation to make them effective, Section 16 has been
recognized by the Supreme Court as self-executing like the provisions in the
Bill of Rights.

As early as 1993 the Supreme Court already recognized it, in conjunction

with the right to health, as anchoring the right of a group of minors to
challenge logging practices in the country. The minors, speaking for
themselves and for “generations yet unborn” under the concept of
“inter-generational justice,” asked the Court to order a stop to the
harmful effects flowing from deforestation. The Court upheld their right
to raise the challenge as flowing from their “right to a balanced and healthful
ecology” and “the correlative duty to refrain from impairing the environment.”

In Metropolitan Manila Development Authority v. Residents of Manila Bay,

the Supreme Court ordered various agencies of government to clean up
Manila Bay.

All these have come about because of the desire of the state as enunciated
in the Constitution to ensure for the people a healthy environment. This
constitutional policy, even if already self-executing, has been injected with
an element of urgency through various laws.

“Environmental laws and regulations must abide by the precautionary

principle. This principle simply holds that uncertainty in the science should
not be an obstacle or excuse to postpone mitigating action. It is a
conservative principle which in the case of scientific uncertainty places the
burden of proof on the polluter, not on the affected, i.e. the polluter has the
responsibility to prove that what is being spewed into the environment is not
harmful. [The Court of Appeals had said that the planters had failed to do
this.] Corollary, it is not the responsibility of the affected to prove that the
effluent is poisonous. In view of scientific uncertainty, the presumption is that
the chemical is harmful.

“Aerial spraying is better deployed in advanced countries where there is

mechanized agriculture and land buffers are maintained. In the Philippines
and other developing countries, communities live close to the plants and the
land they till.
“The degree of harm depends on the lifetime, human exposure and
concentration levels of the chemical. These will depend on the state of the
atmosphere. Greater control of the dispersion of chemicals is possible in
stable atmospheres. Tropical atmospheres are frequently unstable and less
predictable. You only need to ask a fisherman who knows how locally
unpredictable amihan can be these days.

PHILIPPINE ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS

PRESIDENTIAL DECREE 1586

ESTABLISHING AN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT SYSTEM,
INCLUDING OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT RELATED
MEASURES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

This law requires private corporations, firms or entities including

agencies and instrumentalities of the government to prepare an
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for every proposed project and
undertaking which significantly affect the quality of the environment.

Section 2. Environmental Impact Statement System. There is hereby

established an Environmental Impact Statement System founded and based
on the environmental impact statement required, under Section 4 of
Presidential Decree No. 1151, of all agencies and instrumentalities of the
national government, including government-owned or controlled
corporations, as well as private corporations, firms and entities, for every
proposed project and undertaking which significantly affect the quality of the
environment.

The EIS is a document that provides a comprehensive study of the significant

impacts of a project on the environment. It is prepared and submitted by the
project proponent and/or EIA Consultant as an application for an
Environmental Compliance Certificate.

In general, only projects that pose potential significant impact to the

environment shall be required to secure an ECC.

In determining the scope of EIS, two factors are considered:

 1. The nature of the project and its potential to cause significant
negative environmental impacts.

2. The sensitivity or vulnerability of environmental resources in the

project area.

An ECC is a document issued by the DENR/EMB after a positive review of

an ECC application, certifying that based on the representations of the
proponent, the proposed project or undertaking will not cause significant
negative environmental impact.

The ECC also certifies that the proponent has complied with all the
requirements of the EIS System and has committed to implement its
approved Environmental Management Plan.

PD 979 MARINE POLLUTION ACT

SECTION 2. Statement of Policy. — It is hereby declared a national policy

to prevent and control the pollution of seas by the dumping of wastes and
other matter which create hazards to human health, harm living resources
and marine life, damage amenities, or interfere with the legitimate uses of
the sea within the territorial jurisdiction of the Philippines.

SECTION 4. Prohibited Acts. — Except in cases of emergency imperilling

life or property, or unavoidable accident, collision, or stranding or in any
cases which constitute danger to human life or property or a real threat to
vessels, aircraft, platforms, or other man-made structure, or if damping
appears to be the only way of averting the threat and if there is probability
that the damage consequent upon such dumping will be lees than would
otherwise occur, and except as otherwise permitted by regulations
prescribed by the National Pollution Control Commission or the Philippine
Coast Guard, it shall be unlawful for any person to —

a. discharge, dump or suffer, permit the discharge of oil, noxious gaseous

and liquid substances and other harmful substances from or out of any ship,
vessel, barge, or any other floating craft, or other man-made structures at
sea, by any method, means or manner, into or upon the territorial and inland
navigable waters of the Philippines;

b. throw, discharge or deposit, dump, or cause suffer or procure to be thrown,

discharged, or deposited either from or out of any ship, barge, or other
floating craft of vessel of any kind, or from the shore, wharf, manufacturing
establishment, or mill of any kind, any refuse matter of any kind or description
whatever other than that flowing from streets and sewers and passing
therefrom in a liquid state into tributary of any navigable water from which
the same shall float or be washed into such navigable water; and

c. deposit or cause, suffer or procure to be deposited material of any kind in

any place on the bank of any navigable water or on the bank of any tributary
of any navigable water, where the same shall be liable to be washed into
such navigable water, either by ordinary or high tides, or by storms or floods,
or otherwise, whereby navigation shall or may be impeded or obstructed or
increased the level of pollution of such water.

SECTION 7. Penalties for Violations. — Any person who violates Section 4

of this Decree or any regulations prescribed in pursuance thereof, shall be
liable for a fine of not less than Two Hundred Pesos nor more than Ten
Thousand Pesos or by imprisonment of not less than thirty days nor more
than one year or both such fine and imprisonment, for each offense, without
prejudice to the civil liability of the offender in accordance with existing laws.

RULE 2

Section 5. Citizen suit. — Any Filipino citizen in representation of others,

including minors or generations yet unborn, may file an action to enforce
rights or obligations under environmental laws.

Section 8. Issuance of Temporary Environmental Protection Order

(TEPO). - If it appears from the verified complaint with a prayer for the
issuance of an Environmental Protection Order (EPO)

1. That the matter is of extreme urgency and

 2. the applicant will suffer grave injustice and irreparable injury,

the executive judge of the multiple-sala court before raffle or the presiding
judge of a single-sala court as the case may be, may issue ex parte a
TEPO effective for only seventy-two (72) hours from date of the receipt of
the TEPO by the party or person enjoined. Within said period, the court
where the case is assigned, shall conduct a summary hearing to
determine whether the TEPO may be extended until the termination of the
case.

The court where the case is assigned, shall periodically monitor the
existence of acts that are the subject matter of the TEPO even if issued by
the executive judge, and may lift the same at any time as circumstances may
warrant.

RULE 6
SLAPP

Section 1. Strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP). –

A legal action filed to harass, vex, exert undue pressure or stifle any legal
recourse that any person, institution or the government has taken or may
take in the enforcement of environmental laws, protection of the environment
or assertion of environmental rights shall be treated as a SLAPP and shall
be governed by these Rules.

RULE 8
WRIT OF CONTINUING MANDAMUS

Section 1. Petition for continuing mandamus. - When any agency or

instrumentality of the government or officer thereof unlawfully neglects the
performance of an act which the law specifically enjoins as a duty resulting
from an office, trust or station in connection with the enforcement or violation
of an environmental law rule or regulation or a right therein, or unlawfully
excludes another from the use or enjoyment of such right and there is no
other plain, speedy and adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law, the
person aggrieved thereby may file a verified petition in the proper court,
alleging the facts with certainty, attaching thereto supporting evidence,
specifying that the petition concerns an environmental law, rule or regulation,
and praying that judgment be rendered commanding the respondent to do
an act or series of acts until the judgment is fully satisfied, and to pay
damages sustained by the petitioner by reason of the malicious neglect to
perform the duties of the respondent, under the law, rules or regulations. The
petition shall also contain a sworn certification of non-forum shopping.

Section 2. Where to file the petition. - The petition shall be filed with the
Regional Trial Court exercising jurisdiction over the territory where the
actionable neglect or omission occurred or with the Court of Appeals or the
Supreme Court.

RULE 7
WRIT OF KALIKASAN

Section 1. Nature of the writ. - The writ is a remedy available to a natural or

juridical person, entity authorized by law, people’s organization, non-
governmental organization, or any public interest group accredited by or
registered with any government agency, on behalf of persons whose
constitutional right to a balanced and healthful ecology is violated, or
threatened with violation by an unlawful act or omission of a public official or
employee, or private individual or entity, involving environmental damage of
such magnitude as to prejudice the life, health or property of inhabitants in
two or more cities or provinces.

RULE 20
PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE

Section 1. Applicability. - When there is a lack of full scientific certainty in

establishing a causal link between human activity and environmental effect,
the court shall apply the precautionary principle in resolving the case before
it.

The constitutional right of the people to a balanced and healthful ecology

shall be given the benefit of the doubt.