EnE 280 Environmental Impact Assessment: THEN AND NOW Improvements & Problems

TECHNICAL PAPER
Environmental Impact Assessment:
THEN AND NOW
Improvements & Problems

Submitted by:
ANGEL U. GACUTAN
M.S. Environmental Engineering
SN 2007-16069

Submitted to:
Dr. Maria Antonia N. Tanchuling
EnE 280
Associate Professor
University of the Philippines Diliman

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EnE 280 Environmental Impact Assessment: THEN AND NOW Improvements & Problems

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to acknowledge the following for their valuable

contributions in making this study possible:

Engr. Mary Therese Gonzales of Environmental Management Bureau

Environmental Impact Assessment Division
Monitoring and Validation Team

Engr. Carl Santiago of Environmental Management Bureau

Environmental Impact Assessment Division
Review and Evaluation Team

Engr. Joel Polintan of Environmental Management Bureau

Environmental Impact Assessment Division
Review and Evaluation Team

and last but not the least,

Dr. Maria Antonia N. Tanchuling of UP Institute of Civil Engineering

my Professor in EnE 280: Environmental Impact Assessment

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 EnE 280 Environmental Impact Assessment: THEN AND NOW Improvements & Problems

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover Page i
Acknowledgments ii
Table of Contents iii
List of Tables and Figure iv

INTRODUCTION
History of the Philippine EIA System 1

PROBLEMS OF THE PHILIPPINE EIA SYSTEM BEFORE DAO 30-2003

Before the 1996 Revision (Ross, 1994) 3
Before the 2003 Revision (Villaluz, 2002) 5

RESEARCH PLAN
Methodology 7
Interview Particulars 8

PROBLEMS OF THE PRESENT PHILIPPINE EIA SYSTEM

Interview Outcome 9
Present Problems Viewed by other Researchers
King and Olsen (2013) 12
Tuyor, et.al (2007) 13
Prevailing Problems 15

CONCLUSION 16

REFERENCES 17

APPENDIX
Interview Questions 18

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 EnE 280 Environmental Impact Assessment: THEN AND NOW Improvements & Problems

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURE

TABLE TITLE PAGE

Table 1 History of the Philippine EIA System 1

Table 2 Problems of the EIA System before the Enactment of DAO 37-1996 4

Table 3 Problems of the EIA System before the Enactment of DAO 30-2003 5

Table 4 Environmental Impact Assessment Division (EIAD) of Environmental 8

Management Bureau (EMB) Technical Staffs

Table 5 Problems of the Current EIA System (King and Olsen, 2013) 12

Table 6 Problems of the Current EIA System (Tuyor et.al, 2007) 13

FIGURE TITLE PAGE

Figure 1 Methodology of Research Plan 7

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 EnE 280 Environmental Impact Assessment: THEN AND NOW Improvements & Problems

INTRODUCTION

Most countries in Asia have established the environmental impact assessment process,
especially in the Philippines, way back in 1970’s. It has been widely accepted as an
indispensable instrument for employing the ideologies of sustainable development. All over
the decades, the EIA practice in the country is evolving. Alongside are also the many
problems that arise due to its structure and implementation, questioning its general efficiency.
In this study, the several improvements and problems of the EIA system through time will be
presented. It will also show the prevailing problems that still exist after all of the revisions
and improvements of the law.

HISTORY OF PHILIPPINE EIA SYSTEM

The following table presents the timeline of the brief history of Environmental Impact
Assessment in our country. It also narrates the several improvements of the Philippine
Environmental Impact Statement System (PEISS) and its implementing rules and regulations.

Table 1. History of the Philippine EIA System

Year Milestones

Environmental assessment was first introduced in the Philippines by

proclamation of the Philippine Environmental Policy or the Presidential
Decree No. 1151 (PD 1151). This law aims for the following: (a)
1977 creation under which man and nature can thrive in harmony, (b)
fulfilment of socio-economic requirements of present and future
generations, and (c) attainment of environmental quality that is
conducive to life of dignity and well-being.

Through the goals of PD 1151, the PEISS was then legally established
with the promulgation of Presidential Decree No. 1586 (PD 1586). This
law states that “it is the policy of the state to attain and maintain a
1978
rational and orderly balance between socio-economic growth and
environmental protection.” With this decree, the present Philippine EIS
System was systematized and the Implementing Rules and Regulations

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EnE 280 Environmental Impact Assessment: THEN AND NOW Improvements & Problems

(IRR) of the PEISS were laid out. The National Environmental

Protection Council (NEPC) was the implementing agency to first
mandate the EIA system in the Philippines. From its proclamation to
these present times, there have been five revisions to the IRR in order to
improve and simplify the procedures, preparation, and evaluation of the
EIA process.

The first IRR was passed by NEPC. It outlines the roles of principal
agencies and involved stakeholders, as well as the requirements for an
Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC). During this time, it only
1979
adheres whether to deny or grant an ECC to the proponents through the
President directive. Despite the presence of an IRR, PEISS was not still
implemented.

Through declaration of Presidential Proclamation No. 300, certain types

1981
of projects and areas that are environmentally critical were categorized.

Legal implementation of PEISS only started in this year, when

1982
Presidential Proclamation No. 2146 (PD 2146) was issued.

The second IRR was decreed, but only in a form of a resolution called
1984 NEPC Resolution No. 4. Improvements include a format for the EIS
report and monitoring compliance.

NEPC was merged with the National Pollution Control Commission

(NPCC) and became the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) by
Executive Order No. 192. EMB was under the jurisdiction of the newly
reorganized and renamed Department of Environment and Natural
1987
Resources (DENR). DENR-EMB now provides the policy directive and
general supervision on all EIA concerns, as well as reviewing the
processes of environmental critical projects (ECP) or Category A
projects.

By the DENR Administrative Order No. 21 (DAO 21), the third IRR
revisions were organized and a detailed procedural manual was passed,
1992
rationalizing the complexity of the several procedures in preparing and
reviewing the EIS documents. In DAO 21, regional offices were

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delegated under the supervision of DENR. These local offices have the
right to issue ECC to non-environmental critical projects located in
environmentally critical areas (ECA) or Category B projects, as well as
projects that do not require intricate EIA studies (Category C and D).

Before the end of this year, DENR further improved the IRR system by
enactment of DENR Administrative Order No. 37 Series 1996 (DAO 37-
1996). A comprehensive procedural manual was developed that includes
1996 the Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) process, issuance of
Certificate of Non-Coverage (CNC), significance of public scoping and
social acceptability, creation of a Multi-Partite Monitoring Team
(MMT), and implementation of Environmental Guarantee Fund.

Through Administrative Order 42 of the Office of the President, the

PEISS was established as a planning tool and as a provision to the
2002
Philippine Agenda 21 (PA 21), a government program to meet the
country’s developmental goal for sustainable development.

To be consistent with the vision and goals of PA 21, the last revision of
the implementing rules and regulations of PD 1586 was ratified through
the declaration of DENR Administrative Order No. 30 Series 2003
(DAO 30-2003). This laid out the present Philippine EIS System.
2003
Through this, the EIA system was further simplified through
consolidation of existing environmental and government laws, setting
time limits for the different EIS processes, emphasizing on
environmental management plan and public participation.

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PROBLEMS OF THE PHILIPPINE EIA SYSTEM

BEFORE DAO 30-2003

Throughout the years, government legislatives and implementing agencies have tried to
improve the Philippine EIA system by incorporating various regulations and streamlining the
rigorous procedures in preparing and evaluating EIA documents. This results to the latest
revision of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Philippine EIS System which
is the DAO 30-2003. Before its most recent amendment, there are numerous difficulties and
challenges that were encountered by the system that made DENR to revise the IRR of
Presidential Decree 1586.

BEFORE THE 1996 REVISION (Ross, 1994)

The following table presents the several problems occurred before the DENR Administrative
Order No. 37 Series 1996 (DAO 37-1996) was decreed.

Table 2. Problems of the EIA System before the Enactment of DAO 37-1996

PROBLEMS

The EIS system is not perceived by project proponents as a

planning tool but just an additional requirement to acquire
The EIS system
permits and other government licenses. That’s why before, it
as a bureaucratic
is a common situation where most of the projects don’t
requirement for
comply with the ECC or CNC application. Many projects just
project approval
passed their EIS documents when the project is already in
construction or finished.

Politicians impede the granting of ECC to project proponents.

There are times when an ECC was been issued by higher
Political interference
officials even if the project was not approved by the EIA
implementing agency.

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Example situation is when an inexperienced proponent will

find assistance in preparing for the EIS from public servants
from the implementing agencies, offering them a good
Questionable practice reward. Since public servants favour development than
by public servants environmental protection, they will agree. This results to
serve to discredit simply copying other documents and just changing the project
the system title, making a poor quality of EIS report. And because of
many poorly prepared reports, reviewers would just approve
the project rather than spending a lot of time, but in the end
get nothing better.

Some environmentally critical areas are easily to identify but

Treatment of projects some are not. It is also hard to point out since approximately
in environmentally 80% of the archipelago is identified as ECA, since the
critical areas is less Philippines is prone to many natural calamities. In addition,
than satisfactory there are no available maps indicating what parts of the
country are categorized under ECA’s.

BEFORE THE 2003 REVISION (Villaluz, 2002):

The following table presents the several problems occurred before the DENR Administrative
Order No. 30 Series 2003 (DAO 30-2003) was decreed.

Table 3. Problems of the EIA System before the Enactment of DAO 30-2003

PROBLEM

EIA system was viewed to only provide the needs of

Intent and timing industrial sector. There is also lack of participation from all
of the EIA process sectors to be involved in the process at the very early stage of
project cycle.

Implementation of EIA system was decentralized to regional level for many

decentralization years but it is taking longer time for the whole process to be
of DENR finalized and most of the projects were still being handled by

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the central office.

Devolution is taking too long due to the lack of competent or

well-trained personnel and expertise to train officials in both
Lack of competent national and local levels. The enacted law does not offer
government personnel stable career opportunities for EIA professionals in the
government sectors. This only shows that the implementing
agency is insufficient in manpower and professionals.

The monitoring capacity of the reviewers must be reinforced.

Large gap in the
Subsequent problems are lack of equipment, detailed
procedural guidelines
guidelines, trained personnel, and qualified laboratories to
of the review
analyse samples.

For every EIA study that consultants need to prepare, they

have to obtain again new environmental baseline data or
Lack of environmental simply result to secondary data from parallel studies which
baseline data are sometimes unreliable and insufficient. There is no general
database of the environmental data that can be access by the
preparers, even from approved EIA studies.

Overlapping of There is lack of coordination between various government

functions between entities. This causes inconsistency and incompetence to the
government agencies EIS process, consuming more time.

Public participation such as public hearing and consultations

Lack of skills of
are poorly conducted and presented due to time constraints.
government
There is no transparency to the involved public. Reports were
representatives to
restricted to the public because of uncertainty and lack of
handle social issues
experience to manage social matters.

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RESEARCH PLAN

METHODOLOGY
In completing this study, the following approaches were followed:

Figure 1. Methodology of Research Plan

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INTERVIEW PARTICULARS

Together with my other colleagues, Ms. Angel Salcedo and Mr. Andrew Lina, we
interviewed some of the technical staffs of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB)
under the Environmental Impact Assessment Division (EIAD). The EIAD-EMB is the one
who handles the review, evaluation, validation, and monitoring of the EIA documents of the
proponents applying for an ECC or CNC.

The interview was held last August 28, 2013 (Wednesday) at the EMB Central Office in
DENR Compound, Visayas Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City. The following are the names of
the representatives we interviewed, as well as their assigned team or scope of expertise,
length of service in EMB-EIAD, and educational background (or undergraduate course).

Table 4. Environmental Impact Assessment Division (EIAD) of Environmental

Management Bureau (EMB) Technical Staffs

Assigned Team Educational

Name Length of Service
in EIAD-EMB Background
MARY THERESE Monitoring and B.S. Agricultural
8 months
GONZALES Validation Engineering
Review and B.S. Chemical
CARL SANTIAGO 1 year & 1 month
Evaluation Engineering
Review and B.S. Civil
JOEL POLINTAN 2 years & 5 months
Evaluation Engineering

Note: The list of the interview questions are presented in the Appendix section.

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PROBLEMS OF THE
PRESENT PHILIPPINE EIA SYSTEM

INTERVIEW OUTCOME

Based from our interview, I have discovered that even if the EIA legislative system is present
for over three decades here in the country, with its continuous improvements, revisions, and
several supporting studies conducted by various local and international institutions, there are
still several institutional problems faced by the professionals who are responsible to mandate
and oversee the EIA Law, specifically by the technical staffs of the Environmental Impact
Assessment Division of the Environmental Management Bureau. The following are the
several problems acknowledged by the EMB employees. Their propositions and opinions are
significant to be considered in evaluating the EIA system in the Philippines since they are the
ones who first-handedly experience and exposed to the process.

(1) INSUFFICIENT MANPOWER

The current number of technical staffs under the Environmental Impact Assessment Division
of DEMR-EMB is only 11 members. These employees are responsible with the reviewing,
validating, and evaluation of all the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) documents for all
the 15 regions in the country. These technical staffs will also be assigned to different fields or
review committee mainly air, water, social, and geology. Assuming that one staff must only
have one area of expertise, there will be about three members (maximum) per field. From
January to August 2003, based on a study (Tuyor, et.al, 2007), there are a total of 64 EIS-
based environmental compliance certificate applications within the period of eight months.
These 11 technical staffs must evaluate all the projects based on their assigned field. Doing
the math, a member must review, evaluate, and validate about 22 reports within eight months.
Clearly, there are insufficient numbers of people to do the work. Inside the office, it is a
common sight for the employees to have over piled documents on their working area. Some
admitted that not all of the reports undergo substantial validation.

(2) EMPLOYEE WELFARES

The Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) is not a full-pledge division of the

Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). Thus, a great number of
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employees, especially the technical staffs are only contractual, unlike regular employees who
enjoy full benefits such as sick-leave, vacation-leave, and others. One of the employees told
us that some of them are almost more than five years in length of service, but still remains as
a contractual employee. This appalling situation results to a large rate of staff turnover due to
security of tenure. It is a common thing within the office where employees are being
absorbed or pirated by various private companies who offer them better and fair
compensations.

(3) TECHNICAL CAPABILITY OF STAFFS

Since there is a large rate of staff turnover, employees do come and go. Thus, EIAD-EMB
has to train new employees all over again. Most of them are newly-graduate or inexperience
regarding the strenuous process of the EIA system. The basic requirement to become a
technical staff must only be a licensed engineer. There is no existing legal certification or
accreditation to compel in order to become an EIS or IEE reviewer.

(4) RIGIDITY OF THE EIA SYSTEM

The reviewers themselves admit that the current EIA system is very complex and strict when
it comes to technical aspects that became difficult for the part of the preparers or the
proponent to seamlessly satisfy. And regardless of the detailed revisions of the EIA Law,
some of the EIS or even the much simpler IEE documents that were received by the
reviewers still lack its depth and has poor content. Most of the problems occur in assessing
project alternatives and environmental management plan which became generic in most of
the reports. Another thing pointed out by the reviewers is the simplification of the EIA
process, such as removing the Compliance for Non-Coverage (CNC), which is a requirement
for small-scale businesses and projects.

(5) DECENTRALIZATION OF THE EIA TO REGIONAL LEVEL

Since there are an insufficient mandate of the reviewers within the EMB office, the staffs
themselves suggest that irrelevant projects that do not need rigorous evaluations must be
entrusted to local assessors in order to lessen their work load and for them to focus on the
more important and critical projects.

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(6) AMBIGUOUS CATEGORIZATION OF THE PROJECTS

The revised EIA Law has classified and separated the different projects that need to undergo
the EIS or IEE evaluation. Despite narrowing the category of the projects, there are still
confusions among the staffs due to many unclassified projects. One example they have cited
are the ethanol industries. These industries are not listed among the Environmental Critical
Projects (ECP’s) such as in the group of Heavy Industries (i.e. Non-ferrous Metal Industries,
Iron and Steel Mills, Petroleum and Petro-chemical Industries including Oil and Gas,
Smelting Plants). But without proper planning and design, it could impose a great threat to
the environment.

(7) CONFLICT TO OTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

EIA system covered a lot of environmental and social aspects. It requires several technical
aspects especially in preparing the project description and environmental baseline data such
as evaluating the air quality, water quality, geology, health impact, and social acceptability of
the project. This in turn raises conflicts to other existing laws in the country especially those
that are also supervised by other government entities. According to our interview, the most
common contradictory agencies are Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), Laguna
Lake Development Authority (LLDA), Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), and other
non-government units.

(8) POLITICAL INTERFERENCE

Another common problem nowadays in the EIA system is the prevailing corruption in our
country. Even if the project is not approved by the review committee of the EIAD-EMB,
government officers would still release an Environment Compliance Certificate to the
proponent if they will be given good reparation. They called this agreement as under-the-
table settlement. And the employees admit that they don’t have the power to control or
prevent this prejudice. Another suppressing fact is that not all regions in the country are being
handled by the EMB. The ARMM region is excluded in the jurisdiction of EMB due to
governmental conflict, even though this region has many rich culture and environment that
must also be protected. The region has its own local government units who handle their
separate regulations and policies.

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PRESENT PROBLEMS VIEWED BY OTHER RESEARCHERS

In addition, the following are some of the problems recognized by other researchers after the
latest revision of the implementing rules and regulations of the Philippine EIS System or
DAO 30-2003.

A. KING AND OLSEN (2013)

In this study, the researchers describe the prevailing problems of several countries in Asia
that requires EIA, including the Philippines. The following are the common problems among
all of the 16 participating countries.

Table 5. Problems of the Current EIA System (King and Olsen, 2013)

Problem

Deficiency in financial support would hinder the post-

project monitoring process to be conducted. It is also
Inadequate financing related to the absence of commitment of project owners
to follow through on the EIA recommendations that
impose additional costs

This problem is also due to the insufficient funding and

Inability to adequately
manpower source of the implementing agency.
monitor the mitigation
Mitigation measures proposed in the EIA’s are
measures
insufficiently monitored, sometimes not at all.

It is a rare phenomenon where an EIA consultant who

Lack of accountability on
reaches negative or undesirable findings in the project
the part of the EIA
designs would recommend the developers or
consultants
proponents to not continue the project.

Decisions regarding the approval of the project are also

Overlapping and
made by other parts of the government and multiple
conflicting jurisdictions
agencies, sometimes by those at very high levels.

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B. TUYOR, ET.AL (2007)

In this study, the researchers summarize the legal and institutional framework of the EIS
structure in the Philippines, as well as evaluating the prevailing issues and performance of the
revised system. It also presents various challenges and recommendations for improving the
process. The following table lists the several problems discussed in the article.

Table 6. Problems of the Current EIA System (Tuyor et.al, 2007)

Problem

DENR-EMB collects only 5-6% of the total budget of DENR

and only a very small percentage goes to EIAD, considering
The DENR-EMB is
also that the agency has a total of 632 staffs nationwide. It is
undermanned and
reported that only 18% of the total number of projects that
underfunded
was issued with ECC are monitored and an average of 1,600
per year of ECC’s are being released.

Even if the revised IRR has incorporated other laws,

issuances and requirements of other national government
Overlaps with other agencies failed to consider other laws. For example,
laws and agency environmental and socio-cultural impact assessments are
jurisdiction prerequisite for a certificate from National Commission on
Indigenous People (NCIP), but DENR also require proponent
a consent of social acceptability before it releases an ECC.

It is confusing some times to decide whether or not a project

is covered by the EIS process. This is common in projects
Loose screening
located in ECA as these areas have not been mapped out
process
such as those that fall under areas that are frequently hit by
natural calamities.

Scoping process must consider all the features of the

Unfocused scoping environment and social aspects of the project resulting to
exercise resulting to thick reports. Scoping must narrow down the study into
voluminous reports analysis of key or important technical aspects rather than the
baseline characterization.

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PEISS is a very detailed process from project screening to

monitoring, allowing no room for discretion of DENR staff.
All the requirements are predetermined and listed rather than
Rigid EIS system
as inputs for further study and decision-making. This scheme
does not allow repeating or similar environmental
assessments.

In the institutional framework of the EIA system, the central

Centralized EIA office has all the authority, especially the implementation of
administration the EIS process. This is caused by insufficient manpower that
the lead agencies currently have.

PEISS monitoring system is very multifaceted since many

entities conduct the compliance monitoring such as the
DENR-EMB, the self-monitoring of proponent, third party
Complex auditors, and the Multi-partite Monitoring Team (MMT).
monitoring system And abuse of power is a common notion especially in MMT
where they usually ask for payments and other financial
expenses. There is also the lack of manpower that hinders the
efficiency of the monitoring process.

The fund was not stated in PD 1586 and it is sometimes

Legal basis for difficult to justify how much the guarantee fund must be
Environmental depending on the strain of the project. It is also contradictory
Guarantee Fund to the goals of the law which is to protect the environment
and minimize any potential risk or impacts.

This results to voluminous reports of EIS documents but still

Poor quality of
lack in terms of focus and depth of analyses. Most of the
environmental
times, the contents have generic format of environmental
assessment reports
management plan.

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PREVAILING PROBLEMS

The following are the lists of several problems that still exist in the EIA system before and
after the latest revision of the implementing rules and regulations of the Philippine
Environmental Impact Statement System in 2003.

 Overlapping functions with other laws and conflict of jurisdiction with other
government agencies
 Political interference in releasing the Environmental Compliance Certificate
 Lack of technical competency and integrity of the implementing agency’s personnel
 Insufficient number of the agency’s manpower
 Decentralization of the EIS system to regional level
 Poor quality of environmental assessment reports (especially projects located in ECA)
due to unfocused project scoping and screening
 Lack of environmental baseline data
 Inability to adequately monitor the compliance and mitigation measures

Most of these problems are all institutional and implementation difficulties that DENR-EMB
endlessly faced throughout the years. This only proves that the improvements and revisions to
the structure of the law are not sufficient enough to solve these prevailing problems.

Notice that some of the problems before such as “the EIS system as a bureaucratic
requirement for project approval (Ross, 1994)” and “intent and timing of the EIA process
(Villaliz, 2002)” is not common nowadays. This merely shows that projects proponents and
involved sectors do now value the importance of EIS system as planning tool and must be
conduct at the early stage of the project cycle.

Additionally, there are problems that have risen after the latest revision of the EIA law such
as (a) employee welfares, (b) rigidity of the system, (c) inadequate financing, (d) complex
monitoring system, and (e) legal basis for environmental guarantee fund. These problems
pertain to the structure of the implementing agency, as well as to the strict revisions and
irregularities of the Law.

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CONCLUSION

Throughout the years, from the enactment of the first environmental policy, the Philippine
Environmental Impact Assessment System experienced various revisions and improvements
in order to accommodate all of the challenges and problems in its structure and
implementation. The law has made most of the proponents and stakeholders to view the
entire process of the EIA system as a planning tool. They became more aware and active in
pioneering development within the environment.

Regardless of the several revisions of the EIA Law, there are still prevailing problems. Most
of these difficulties became common and still exist throughout the years largely due to the
inefficiency of the implementation system of the leading agencies. Legislatives, government
bodies, as well as environmental professionals must assist each other in order to solve these
problems. Reforming the structure and implementation of the law needs sufficient financial
funds and support from the higher government and technical expertise from professionals and
members of the academe. Improvements must be earnestly adhere to the EIA system because
it is a significant key element to achieve the goals of our country towards sustainable
development and economic growth

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REFERENCES

 Tuyor, J.B. et al. (2007), The Philippine Environmental Impact Statement System:
Framework, Implementation, Performance and Challenges, Discussion papers, East
Asia and Pacific Region, Rural Development, Natural Resources and Environment
Sector, Washington, DC: World Bank.
 Lohani, B., J.W. Evans, H. Ludwig, R.R. Everitt, Richard A. Carpenter, and S.L. Tu.
(December 1997). Environmental Impact Assessment for Developing Countries in
Asia. Volume 1 – Overview, 356 pp. Asian Development Bank.
 Villaluz, M.G., Advancing the EIA System in the Philippines, Case Study 26, Studies
of EIA Practice in Developing Countries, United Nations Environment Programme EIA
Training Resource Manual (2002)
 King. P., Olsen, S.H. (June 2013). Quick Study of EIA Practices in some Asia‐ Pacific
Countries and Beyond, Comparative Study of EIA Systems – Philippines and Other
Countries, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies.
 Morgan, R.K. (2013), Reap the Rewards: Good Practice EIA, presentation during the
First Philippine EIA Convention, held 19-21 June 2013 in Hotel Manila, Manila,
Philippines
 Ross, W.A. (1994), Environmental Impact Assessment in the Philippines: Progress,
Problems, and Directions for the Future, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
 Historical Background of Department of Environmental and Natural Resources
(DENR), copyright 2013, viewed 9 September 2013 <http://www.denr.gov.ph/about-
us/history.html>

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APPENDIX

Interview Questions
Date: August 28, 2013 (Wednesday)
Venue: Environmental Impact Assessment Division (EIAD), EMB Central Office in DENR
Compound, Visayas Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City.

1. What are the reasons (or are there any deficiencies or problems) why the Procedural
Manual or the Implementing Rules & Regulations (IRR) of Presidential Decree No.1586
(PD 1586), namely Establishing the Philippines Environmental Impact Statement System
(EIS), was revised last 2003?

Follow-up Question (FQ): What certain improvements o revisions to the law was been
made?

2. What are the improvements of the EIA system (i.e. implementation, compliance in
passing EIS/IEE report) since it was revised last 2003?

FQ: What can you say about the implementation of the EIA system in our country?

3. What regions or places do actively participate or comply with the EIA system (i.e. usual
industries or kind of projects)?

4. Are there any problems or challenges in the current EIA system of our country?

5. Is it true that there are companies (specifically construction projects) do not passed their
EIS or IEE before their project started? Even though ECC (Environmental Compliance
Certificate) is required to be passed during the design phase and before a project must
start.

FQ: Are there any legal strains to them? How do you handle this problem?

FQ: How many companies or institutions were sued due to non-compliance of ECC?

6. Is it true that there is political interference in the EIA process? Do government officials
have the right to approve EIS or IEE, or give the ECC to the proponents?

FQ: Who has the legal right to give ECC?

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 EnE 280 Environmental Impact Assessment: THEN AND NOW Improvements & Problems

FQ: How do you handle this problem?

7. In the current EIA system, are there enough numbers of credible EIS or IEE reviewers?

FQ: What are the basic requirements to become EIS or IEE reviewers?

8. Is there enough number of personnel who monitor the operational phase of the projects
whether or not they comply with the ECC?

FQ: What percentage of the projects needed to be monitored is properly handled by the
EMB?

FQ: Are there any equipment or budget/fund?

9. Are there ongoing training courses to train EMB staff on how to review an EIA report?
As well as to companies or proponent in the proper way in making an EIA report?

FQ: Are there any circumstances where you asked proponents or companies to revise the
EIS/IEE report due to its poor content or quality?

10. Is there a list or map indicating the environmental critical areas in the Philippines? Areas
with critical slopes, areas prone to natural calamities (flood, typhoon, tsunamis).

FQ: Is there an existing baseline environmental data?

11. Are social impacts of significant construction projects properly imposed?

FQ: When do public hearings and public consultations are needed? Are they often
conducted if needed? Are they poorly presented in the reports due to the lack of skills of
the proponents to handle them?

FQ: Is there transparency between the proponents and the public? Public should be given
the right to be informed and to have participation.

12. What are the other steps undertaken by EMB (your institution) in improving the EIA
system of the Philippines?

13. How you could comment regarding the EIA principle that: EIA is a planning and
monitoring tool and not just a bureaucratic process where companies were often
neglected.

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