PHILIPPINE EIA

EXPIERENCE: PROBLEMS
AND ISSUES
Environmental Impact Assessment

• The process of identifying, predicting,

evaluating and mitigating the biophysical,
social, and other relevant effects of
development proposals prior to major
decisions being taken and commitments
made.
 Objectives of EIA

• • To ensure that environmental considerations are explicitly

addressed and incorporated into the development decision making
process;

• To anticipate and avoid, minimize or offset the adverse significant

biophysical, social and other relevant effects of development
proposals;

• To protect the productivity and capacity of natural systems and the

ecological processes which maintain their functions; and

• To promote development that is sustainable and optimizes resource

use and management opportunities.
• Long term objectives of EIA are to:
• • protect human health and safety;
• • avoid irreversible changes and serious
damage to the environment;
• • safeguard valued resources, natural
areas and ecosystem components; and
• • enhance the social aspects of the
proposal.
• The EIA process should be applied:

As early as possible in decision making and throughout the life cycle of

the proposed activity;

- To all development proposals that may cause potentially significant

effects;

-To biophysical impacts and relevant socio-economic factors, including

health, culture, gender, lifestyle, age, and cumulative effects consistent
with the concept and principles of sustainable development;

- To provide for the involvement and input of communities and industries

affected by a proposal, as well as the interested public;

- In accordance with internationally agreed measures and activities .

 EIA- related Policies

– 1977 PD 1151 Phil Env’l Policy

• Required sponsors of all government and private
projects affecting the quality of the environment to
prepare an assessment of the project’s environmental
impacts

-1977 PD 1152 Phil Env’t Code

• Required all land use management regulating or

enforcing agencies to consider significant environmental
impacts, as well as other aspects of locating industries.
• 1978 PD 1586 Phil EIA System
• Centralized the EIS System under the (then)
National Environmental Protection Council (NEPC), and
authorized the President and the NEPC to proclaim
projects and activities subject to the EIS system; placed
PAB (created by PD 984) under NEPC

• 1979 IRR-PD 1586

• Defined the parameters for EIS; established
penalty structures for non-compliance; created the EIA
review committee; set the procedures for implementing
the EIS system; provided for exempt-ions, & established
procedures for public hearings related to an EIS.
• 1981 PP 2146 ECAs and ECPs
• Proclaimed certain areas and types of projects as
environmentally critical (ECAs & ECPs) and within the scope of the
EIS system

• 1983 NEPC Office Circular No. 3

• Provided a technical definition and scope for
environmentally critical projects and areas

• 1984 Revision of IRR-PD 1586 (1st Change)

• Limited the EIS to ECPs; set the requirements for ECAs;
established fee structures & compliance monitoring system; called
for closure of ECPs operating without ECC; authorized the NEPC to
cancel an ECC for grantees’ violations of conditions or other
standards & rules and regulations
• 1987 EO 192 DENR Reorganization
• Established the central & regional structure of DENR,
including EMB; abolished the NEPC & transferred its powers &
functions to EMB; PAB placed under the administrative jurisdiction of
DENR

• 1992 DENR DAO 21 Amending IRR-PD1586

• (2nd Change)
• Decentralized certain EIA functions to DENR regional offices;
defined the need for public hearings; established the concept of multi-
sectoral monitoring team and Environmental Guarantee Fund

• 1991-92 RA 7160; IRR Local Gov’t Code

• Transferred certain environmental functions to LGUs and
provided for the position of ENROs in provinces, cities and
municipalities
• 1992 DENR DAO 30 Amending IRR-PD1586
• (3rd Change)
• Assigned to LGUs the functions of issuing ECCs
and adjudicating cases involving env’l complaints against
small projects and businesses (i.e., Kalakalan 20)

• 1996 DENR DAO 37

• Set the operational details on implementing the
EIS system

• 1997 DAO 16 Programmatic EIA

• Limited application; only 3 attempts (Limay,
PHIVEDEC, Agusan)
• Environmental Performance Report and
Management Plan (EPRMP) .
• The EPRMP shall contain the following:
• Project Description;
• Baseline conditions for critical environmental
parameters;
• Documentation of the environmental
performance based on the current/past
environmental management measures
implemented;
• Detailed comparative description of the
proposed project expansion and/or
process modification with corresponding
material and energy balances in the case
of process industries, and
• EMP based on an environmental
management system (ISO 14000
framework) and standard set by EMB.
• Lateness of the EIA process - Generally,
EIA processes are initiated too late in the
project cycle to influence project design. In
almost all cases, EIAs are undertaken as
‘stand alone’processes. There is almost no
integration between EIA and project
design.
Rio Declaration on Env’t and Dev’t

• Principle 17 of the Rio Declaration on

• Environment and Development:
• ‘Environmental impact assessment, as a
national instrument, shall be undertaken
for proposed activities that are likely to
have a significant adverse impact on the
environment and are subject to a decision
of a competent national authority’.
• 2002EO 42
• Set the legal basis for DENR’s
administrative and technical actions to
respond to issues emerging from the
implementation of DAO 96-37
• 2003 DAO 2003-30
• Procedural manual in EIS
 EIA implementation
• EIAs must be implemented in a multi- and
inter-disciplinary manner.

• EIAs must be characterized by integration

of social, economic and biophysical
environmental impacts to the maximum
extent possible
 Scoping
• EIAs must include an analysis of a number
of reasonable alternatives.

• Philippines – most often only with and

without the project
 Questions
Why implemented projects with ECCs have numerous
complaints from the stakeholders?
Are the stakeholders aware of provisions of ECC awarded
by the DENR?
What are the roles of LGUs on EIA processes?
What is delineation between DENR, C/P/MENROs and
Barangay Government on the implementation of the
ECC?
How adequate is the review of EIS by the regulatory
agency?
How adequate is DENR/LLDA monitoring and evaluation
projects with ECC?
 Experiences
• Areas of the EIA process that communities
can use
Right to be notified of project, have copy
of the EIS and be informed of the decision
– Scoping
– Public hearing
– Monitoring
– Environmental guarantee fund
• Human Rights that inter phase with the EIA
process
– Right to environmental information
– Right to participate in environmental decision-
making
– Right to a remedy
– Right to a safe and healthy environment
• Irregularities in the process
• Independence of the process
• Because of systemic problems of the EIA
process, it has become a very weak
process for dispute management or
resolution
• Mitigation of environmental impacts, or
Rationalization of Resource Mgt & Uses?

– Mitigation: stress on post-RM decisions

– Rationalization: stress on pre-RM decisions
• Intensify & widen impact assessment, or shift the
paradigm of assessment?
– Intensification: stress on scoping & methods
– Paradigm shift: stress on purpose & objectives
– More EIA, or shift to Sustainable Development Impact
Assessment (SDIA)?

SDIA: puts a stress on determining “best” land or

resource uses; provides a tool for transparency &
accountability in environmental and resource
governance
EIA is a tool to help achieve sustainable
development.
– Community should be part of decision making
• in the review committee
• Social acceptability is a pre-condition without which
the ECC should not be issued
 EIA principle on stakeholder
participation
• Involvement of stakeholders should occur
throughout the EIA process (mechanisms and
participants):
• scoping;
• interim reports (if prepared);
• draft/final report;
• decision-making; and
• post-decision stage
• How about in the Philippines?
• Fast-tracking – automatic approval upon
lapse of a period
 Issues
• Lack of accountability of the preparer and the
proponents for irregularities in the EIA process –
DENR AO 2003-30 removes requirement of an
accountability statement from proponents and
preparers.
• Under DENR AO 96-37, preparers and
proponents are required to sign under oath an
accountability statement. If it turns out that they
included falsehoods in the EIS, they can be
liable for perjury.
• Lack of accountability of the preparer and the
proponents for irregularities in the EIA process -
New DAO removes requirement of an
accountability statement from proponents and
preparers. Under DENR AO 96-37, preparers
and proponents are required to sign under oath
an accountability statement. If it turns out that
they included falsehoods in the EIS, they can be
liable for perjury. This deterrent is no longer
available under the new DENR AO 2003-30.
 EIA principle
• Post-decision stage and impact
management should include:
• mitigation;
• monitoring/auditing of impacts and
mitigating measures;
• community liaison; and
• institutional strengthening and training.
Key EIA trends as identified by the Effectiveness
Study

• more systematic procedures for EIA

implementation
• greater consideration of biophysical, social, risk,
health and other impacts;
• extended temporal and spatial frameworks
• provision for SEA of policy, plans and/or programs
• incorporation of sustainability perspectives and
principles
• linkage to other planning, regulatory and
management regimes
 Benefits of EIA include:
 environmentally sound and sustainable design
 better compliance with standards
 savings in capital and operating costs
 reduced time and costs for approvals
 increased project acceptance
 better protection of the environment and
human health
 Delays are caused during EIA when:
 the EIA is commenced too late in the project
cycle
 the terms of reference are poorly drafted
 the EIA is not managed to a schedule
 the EIA report is inadequate and needs to be
upgraded
 there is a lack of technical data
 STRENGTHENING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE
PHILIPPINE EIS SYSTEM
• Coordination with other Government Agencies and
other Organizations

• The DENR-EMB shall conduct regular consultations

with DTI and other pertinent government agencies,
affected industry groups and other stakeholders on
continually streamlining the processing of ECC
applications and post ECC implementation to fulfill the
policy and objectives of this administrative order.

• DENR Administrative Order No. 2003-30

Concept/tool positioning Others
Precautionary
Industrial principle
Ecology
Facility/Organization

Ecological
Pollution footprint
Prevention
Reporting Environmental Eco-effectiveness
Management Systems
Environmental Environmental Impact Assessment Factor 4/10
Supply Chain Eco-efficiency
Management Analysis
Product /technology/substance

Risk Assessment
Green Integrated __ not widely
Product Procurement applied as yet
Life Cycle Product Policy
Stewardship
Management Eco- __ well
labeling understood and
Design for environment Extended Producer applied
/eco-design Life Cycle Responsibility
__ alternative
Assessment views on
responsibility
Industry Government/civil society
Source: Pollution Probe - Environmental Sustainability Policy Framework Project