Copyright Notice ©

The modules, lectures presented (printed, power point, recorded), pop quizzes, and
bulletins issued by the UP Law Center during its paralegal training
programs/courses are subject of copyright protection.

Unauthorized use, copying, reproduction, sharing, distribution or alteration thereof

may constitute violation of intellectual property laws and give rise to civil and
criminal liability.

Copyright © 2023. University of the Philippines Law Center.

All rights reserved.
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW of the PHILIPPINES for Paralegals
PTP26
2023 March(VLS 7)

Atty. DONNA ZAPA-GASGONIA

 What is environmental law?

Physical
surroundings

Human
safety
• Legal pronouncements
that generally refer to
the physical Enjoyment of
surroundings affecting human life
human lives with
regard to safety and
enjoyment.

2
 Topics for Discussion

B. Resource Management
A. Concepts & Community C. Rules of Procedure
Development
• Sustainable • Polluter Pays Principle • Standing/representation
Development
• Waste Management • EPO/TEPO
• Global Warming
• Forestry • Writ of Kalikasan
• Climate Change
• Fisheries • Writ of Continuing
• DRRM Mandamus
• Minerals
• Property Law • Precautionary Principle
• Waters
• Writ of Certiorari

3
 environment

economics
A. Concepts
human development

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

D. Z. Gasgonia 2020 4
 Sustainable Development
UN World Commission on Environment and Development

“Sustainable development is development that meets the

needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs. It contains
within it two key concepts:
• The concept of needs, in particular the essential needs
of the world’s poor, to which overriding priority should
be given; and
• The idea of limitations imposed by the state of
technology and social organization on the environment’s
ability to meet present and future needs.”
-- the Brundtland Report, 1987

D Zapa - Gasgonia 5
Adopted by 193 countries in Sept. 2015 for a better world by 2030.

6
 PHILIPPINE ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY - 1977
• It is hereby declared a continuing policy of the State:
Harmony
Man &
• To create, develop, maintain, and improve conditions under
Nature which man and nature can thrive in productive and enjoyable
harmony with each other;

Intergenerational
Equity • To fulfil the social, economic and other requirements of present
and future generations of Filipino; and

• To insure the attainment of an environmental quality that is

No conducive to a life of dignity and well-being.
Poverty
• - Presidential Decree 1151
 Philippine Environmental Code – PD 1152 (1977)

Natural
Air Quality Water Quality Land Use Waste Miscellaneous
Resources
Management Management Management Management Provisions
Management

To classify Philippine To provide policy on To set guidelines for

To protect public waters To maximize land To address population-
resource management effective waste
health use benefits environment balance;
and conservation management
environmental
To establish water education, research,
quality standards To stimulate technological,
monitoring and
To encourage To optimize benefits educational, economic and social dissemination of
To prevent injury
prudent use and and preserve for future efforts through Recovery, environmental
and/or damage Recycling, Re-use of wastes and
To protect and conservation of land generations information, incentives,
waste products
improve water grants, preserve
resources cultural heritage,
To prevent imbalance To guide government environmental
To promote socio- To provide general protection, public
To monitor and between the nation’s agencies in efficient,
economic measures for policy hearings.
mitigate pollution needs and land-based effective waste
development implementation
incidents resources management

8
A. Concepts

GLOBAL WARMING and

CLIMATE CHANGE
D. Z. Gasgonia 2020 9
Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect

• Global Warming refers to the

increase in the average
temperature of the Earth’s near-
surface air and oceans that is
associated with the increased
concentration of greenhouse gases
in the atmosphere.
– Climate Change Act of 2009, R.A. 9729,
Section 3, Definition of Terms, (j)

https://www.google.com.ph/search?newwindow=noimpactman.typepad.com
Ozone Hole
Source: NASA Ozone Watch
https://www.seforall.org/data-stories/ozone-treaties

11
Climate Change

and

Global Warming

D Zapa - Gasgonia 12
GLOBAL WARMING &
CLIMATE CHANGE
KYOTO Protocol
• A treaty adopted in Kyoto, Japan by member countries of the United Nations in December
1997 and entered into force in February 2005, ratified by 192 parties.

• 37 industrialized countries and the EU committed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions
(CO2) by an average of 5% against 1990 levels over a 5-year period (2008-2012)

• Three Kyoto Mechanisms: (1) Emission Trading [“stock trading”]; (2) Carbon Development
Mechanism [investment in sustainable development projects]; (3) Joint Implementation
[industrialized country – developing country project]

Carbon
Emission Joint
development
trading implementation
mechanism

D Zapa - Gasgonia
 PARIS Agreement (2015) Below 2º C
https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/english_paris_agreement.pdf

• Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change met in Paris and agreed to strengthen
the global response to the threat of climate change, in the context of sustainable development and
efforts to eradicate poverty, including by:
• (a) Holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels
and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, recognizing
that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change;
• (b) Increasing the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate resilience
and low greenhouse gas emissions development, in a manner that does not threaten food production;
and
• (c) Making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-
resilient development.

NDC • Nationally Determined Contributions

• National Plans to combat Climate Change

D Zapa - Gasgonia
 www.google.com.ph/search?q=images+of+climate+change+over+a+period+of+time/oxnotes.com

• Climate Change
• a change its
properties
• persists for an
extended period
• whether due to
natural
variability or as
a result of
human activity.
– Climate Change
Act of 2009, R.A.
9729, section 3, (e)
 Global warming melts glaciers
resulting in disappearing sea ice
that protected the coastline from
winter storms.
- The Native Village of Kivalina
v Exxonmobil Corp., No. 4-08-
cv-01138, 696 F.3rd 849, US
Court of Appeals, 9th circuit (21
Sept. 2012)

D. Z. Gasgonia 2020 17
Climate Change Act of 2009 – R.A. 9729
• The Philippines has adopted the Philippine Agenda 21 framework which
Sustainable espouses sustainable development to fulfil human needs, while
development maintaining the quality of the natural environment for current and future
generations.
Resilience to • As a party to the Hyogo Framework for Action, the State likewise adopts
climate change the strategic goals in order to build national and local resilience to climate
change-related disasters.
related disasters
• It shall enjoin the participation of national and local governments,
businesses, NGOs, local communities and the public to prevent and reduce
Participation the adverse impacts of climate change.
• It shall systematically integrate the concept of climate change in various
phases of policy formulation, development plans, poverty reduction
strategies and other development tools and techniques by all agencies and
Policy instrumentalities of the government.
integration

18
 Tracks and intensity of Tropical Cyclones 1851-2006

https://www.google.com.ph/search?q=images+of+pacific+typhoons+over+time&newwindow=/weather.com.ph

19
20
DISASTER RISK
REDUCTION &
MANAGEMENT
 Earthquake Catalog: April – June 1997

D Zapa - Gasgonia 22
 Hyogo Framework Ensure disaster risk Identify, assess and
Build culture of
reduction is a monitor disaster
safety and resilience
for Action – 2005 national and local risks and enhance
at all levels
priority early warning
to 2015
Strengthen disaster
Reduce underlying preparedness for
risk factors effective response at
all levels

Kobe, JAPAN - The Great Hanshin Earthquake on

Jan. 17, 1995
Magnitude 6.9 earthquake
6,433 people killed; 40,000+ homeless

National Geographic
photo
23
 Soma. Fukushima
JAPAN

11 March 2011

magnitude 9.1
earthquake
maximum height
tsunami 40.5 meters
(133 feet)
flood waters penetrated
10 km inland near
Sendai

National Geographic
photo
 Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction
2015 - 2030

The Sendai Framework was adopted at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster
Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan on 18 March 2015 with four priorities:

Strengthening
Enhancing
disaster risk Investing in
Understanding disaster
governance to disaster reduction
disaster risk preparedness for
manage disaster for resilience and
effective response
risk

“Build - Back - Better” in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction

Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act
– R.A. 10121
Lessen • Disaster Risk Reduction and Management - the systematic
adverse process of using administrative directives, organizations, and
impact & operational skills and capacities to implement strategies, policies
possibility of
and improved coping capacities in order to lessen the adverse
disaster
impacts of hazards and the possibility of disaster.
• Prospective Disaster Risk Reduction and Management - refers to
risk reduction and management activities that address and seek
Avoid new or to avoid the development of new or increased disaster risks,
increased especially if risk reduction policies are not put in place.
disaster risks
Yolanda – 07 November 2013 - Category 5 Super Typhoon
230km/h 10min; 315/km/h 1 min; speed at 41 km/h
storm surge max. height = 7meters
6,352 dead, 1,771 missing

• UN KPCC photo
 Filipinos without food, water for days – USA Today.com
The social welfare secretary [Dinky Soliman] says of the 7,000 food packs that got rotten:
'They only comprise 0.17% of the 4 million that we have given out’
– Katerina Francisco, Rappler, Sept. 15, 2014
 FLOODING – “act of God”
NPC v C.A., Rayo, G.R. No. 103445-45, May 21, 1993

Complaints for damages against the

National Power Corp. for the loss of
lives and the destruction to property
caused by the inundation of
Norzagaray, Bulacan on 26-27 Oct.
1978. Flooding resulted from the
release of water through the Angat
Dam spillways with the onset of
typhoon Kading.

NPC invoked the “act of God” or force

majeure since typhoon Kading reached
typhoon signal no. 3.
 FLOODING – ‘act of God”
NPC v C.A., Rayo, G.R. No. 103445-45, May 21, 1993

NPC was guilty of patent gross and evident lack of foresight, imprudence and negligence
in the management and operation of the Angat Dam. The notice sent to the residents was
insufficient having been given on the day the spillways were opened at midnight causing
the flash flood giving the residents little time to prepare.
The proximate cause of the loss and
damage sustained by the plaintiffs xxx
was the negligence of the petitioner
NPC. It cannot invoke the “act of God”
because negligence or imprudence had
intervened. The whole occurrence was
thereby humanized.
Plaintiffs were awarded actual and
moral damages, and litigation
expenses.
Property Law

The Manila Times. Vintage image of the Pasig River

 EASEMENT of WATERS – Ormoc – Isla Verde – Nov. 5, 1991
Water Code P.D. 1067 5 meters rainfall in 3 hours
15 minute Flash Flood, 8,000 dead

• Article 51. The banks of rivers and streams and

the shores of the seas and lakes throughout
their entire length and within a zone of three
(3) meters in urban areas, twenty (20) meters
in agricultural areas and forty (40) meters in
forest areas, along their margins, are subject to
the easement of public use in the interest of
recreation, navigation, floatage, fishing and
salvage. No person shall be allowed to stay in
this zone longer than what is necessary for
recreation, navigation, floatage, fishing and
salvage or to build structures of any kind. Ormoc – Nov. 05, 1991 – Typhoon Uring
15 minute flash flood, 8,000 dead
- pna

32
Estero de Paco, MANILA - easement of waterways
Crisostomo Aquino v Municipality of Malay, Aklan,
G.R. No. 211356 (29 Sept 2014)
A Forest Land Use
Agreement for Tourism
Purposes (FLAgT) issued
by the DENR in favor of
Boracay West Cove does
not exempt it from
securing a building
permit (PD 1096 Building
Code); which the mayor
refused to issue on the
ground that the resort is
within the “No Build
Zone” per Mun. Ord.
2000-131. A structure
constructed without a
building permit is illegal.
 NUISANCE – Civil Code
Art. 694. A nuisance is any act, omission,
establishment, business, condition of
property, or anything else which:

1) Injures or endangers the health or

safety of others; or
2) Annoys or offends the senses; or
3) Shocks, defies or disregards decency
or morality; or
4) Obstructs or interferes with the free
passage of any public highway or https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftribune
street, or any body of water; or .net.ph%2Findex.php%2F2018%2F08%2F10%2Fla-divi-vendors-
deny-extort-racket Divisoria/Daily Tribune
5) Hinders or impairs the use of
property.
35
 Structures on roads and streets are illegal
“ xxx [Mayor] could not have been faulted “That the permittee shall remove the
for having fenced off said barbershop. equipment, facilities and other
Paragraph 3, Article 699 of the Civil Code appurtenances used by him in the conduct
authorizes the abatement of a public of his business after the close or termination
nuisance without judicial proceedings. of business hours.”
ART. 699. The remedies against a public “The property being a public one, the
nuisance are: Manila Mayors did not have the authority
to give permits, written or oral, to the
[l] A prosecution under the Penal Code or squatters, and that the permits granted are
any local ordinance; or therefore considered null and void. Xxx This
[2] A civil action; or doctrine was reiterated in the case
[3] Abatement, without judicial of Baguio Citizens Action Inc. vs. The City
proceedings.” Council: “An ordinance legalizing the
occupancy by squatters of public land is null
- Timoner v People, G.R. No. L-6250, and void.”
25 Nov 1983 - Dacanay v Asistio, G.R. No. 93654, 6 May 1992
 Structures on roads and streets are illegal
https://www.google.com/url?s
a=i&url=https%3A%2F%2F
www.lamudi.com.ph
Highway Hills,
Mandaluyong

“The occupation and use of private individuals of public places devoted to public use
constitute public and private nuisances and nuisance per se.“

– Alolino v Flores, G.R. No. 198774, 4 April 2016

D Zapa - Gasgonia 37
 Environmental Management in the context of PROPERTY Rights

Civil Code
Articles 420, 424, 613, 614, 627,
694

PUBLIC USE,
NUISANCE and EASEMENT

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fmindanaotimes.
com.ph
 Public Use – Outside the Commerce of Man
vendor stalls on streets and sidewalks
• Art. 420. The following things are property of public dominion:
(1) Those intended for public use, such as roads, canals, rivers, torrents, ports and bridges
constructed by the State, banks, shores, roadsteads, and others of similar character;
(2) Those which belong to the State, without being for public use, and are intended for
some public service or for the development of the national wealth.

• Art. 424. Property for public use, in the provinces, cities and municipalities, consist of the
provincial roads, city streets, municipal street, the squares, fountains, public waters, promenades,
and public works for public services paid for by said provinces, cities or municipalities. xxx

Outside the Commerce of Man – cannot be alienated, leased or otherwise be the subject matter of
contracts; cannot be acquired by prescription against the State. – Tolentino, Civil Code of the
Philippines, Vol II, pp.31-32

D Zapa - Gasgonia 39
 Nuisance per se or Nuisance per accidens?
Is it conclusive by its nature or is proof required?
“xxx complaining that the compound xxx was being
utilized as a lumber yard and that a "loathsome noise and
nervous developing sound" emanating therefrom
disturbed him and his family and caused them and their
son to suffer nervous tension and illness”
“seeking redress in all available venues for the alleged
violation of his family home's tranquility, for the defense
of one's home and family is a natural instinct. However,
redress xxx will have to be tempered by the guiding hand
of due process.”
RTC is the proper forum to determine nuisance.
- Calma v CA, Pleasantville, G.R. No.78447 (17 Aug 1989)

D Zapa - Gasgonia 40
B. Resource Management & Community Development
 Polluter Pays Principle
http://philja.judiciary.gov.ph/assets/files/pdf/learning_materials/A.m.No.09-6-8-SC_rationale.pdf

It requires the polluter to internalize the costs associated with causing

Taxation = pollution. Based on an economic theory of externalities, polluters can
economic value produce goods or services while causing harm to the environment, but
of damage the prices of such goods and services do not reflect the environmental
costs. When the polluter is made to pay, the polluter takes
responsibility for all the cost arising from pollution, but is considered
incomplete when part of the cost is shifted to the community as a
Regulatory whole. Implementation of this principle occurs in two main methods:
standards =
prohibit or taxation that corresponds to the estimated economic value of the
limit the environmental damage, and regulatory standards to prohibit or limit
damage the damage associated with an economic activity. These methods
ensure that the price of products and services more accurately reflect
the total cost for producing the same, where the effect on the
environment is also factored into the equation.

42
TOXIC SUBSTANCES and HAZARDOUS and NUCLEAR WASTES CONTROL ACT
– R.A. 6969, sec. 5
 IMPORTATION of HAZARDOUS WASTES (R.A. 6969)
sec. 13. Prohibited Acts & sec. 14. Criminal Offenses & Penalties

• Sec.13(d) Cause, aid or facilitate, directly or indirectly, in the storage, importation or bringing into
Philippine territory, including its maritime economic zones, even in transit, either by means of
land, air or sea transportation or otherwise keeping in storage any amount of hazardous and
nuclear wastes in any part of the Philippines.
• Sec. 14 b(i) xxx imprisonment of 12 years and 1 day to 20 years shall be imposed upon any person
who shall violate 13(d). If the offender is a foreigner, he or she shall be deported and barred from
any subsequent entry into the Philippines after serving his or her sentence; (ii) add exemplary
damage of Php 500,000.00.
• Sec. 14 d The person or firm responsible or connected with the bringing or importation into the
country of hazardous or nuclear wastes shall be under obligation to transport or send back said
prohibited wastes.

44
 SOLID WASTE or
HAZARDOUS WASTE?
Refers to:
All discarded household, commercial
waste, non-hazardous institutional and
industrial waste, street sweepings,
construction debris, agricultural waste,
and other non-hazardous/non-toxic
solid waste – sec. 3 (kk)

Does not include:

1)Hazardous waste
2)Infectious waste from hospitals
“Recyclable” plastic materials ???
3)Waste from mining activities
 Oil Spills
MT/Princess Empress
carrying 800,000 lites
of industrial fuel sank
on 28 Feb 2023. The
tanker’s owner, RDC
Reield Marines
Services announced it
will comply with its
obligations; it has $1
billion protection and
infdemnity insurance.
Inquirer.net
Oil Spill in Mindoro
 Oil Pollution Management Fund
DOTr, MARINA, PCG v Philippine Petroleum Sea Transport, et al.
G.R. No. 230107, July 24, 2018
• R.A. 9483 established the Oil Pollution Management Fund imposing Php 0.10/liter for
every delivery or transshipment of oil made by tanker barges and tanker haulers is
constitutional.
• It is an exercise of police power – to prescribe regulations to promote the health, morals,
education, good order or safety, and general welfare of the people flows from the
recognition that salus populi est suprema lex – the welfare of the people is the supreme
law.
• “Property rights may be interfered with, especially if it is for the furtherance of the
common good, few business adjustments and sacrifices weighed against prevention of
the possibly irreparable destruction of the country’s natural resources, must necessarily
take a back seat.” – p.16/21

salus populi est suprema lex