CHIEF Justice Reynato Puno will preside over a forum on environmental justice in Baguio City today aimed at speeding up the resolution of at least 3,000 cases in 117 “green courts” nationwide and the validation of the rules of procedure for environmental cases.
“The forum on environmental justice is primarily aimed at determining ways on how the courts can help in the protection and preservation of the environment and ensuring the various government agencies’ commitment to environmental justice,” Puno said in a statement.
The chief magistrate said the Supreme Court-designated green courts have jurisdiction over cases involving violations of the laws on mining, forestry, marine, fisheries, wildlife, waste management, toxic substances, and hazardous waste.
Both Houses of Congress, at least 10 executive departments and line agencies dealing on environment, human rights and law enforcement; local governments, the United Nations, and the United States government are participating in the two-day forum called “Forum on Environmental Justice: Upholding the Right to a Balanced and Healthful Ecology.”
The two-day forum—set at the University of the Cordilleras in Baguio—will be beamed simultaneously through video-conferencing to the University of the Philippines-Visayas in Iloilo City and the Ateneo de Davao University in Davao City.
Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr. said the high tribunal is expecting to hear recommendations from forum participants on what actions it can take to protect and preserve the environment.
Late last year, the SC came out with a landmark decision mandating practically all government agencies and law enforcement units to implement the restoration and preservation of the Manila Bay.
The ruling compelled all government agencies in charge of the environment to report to the SC all actions they have taken to comply with the Manila Bay ruling.
The Baguio City forum is the third conducted by the Supreme Court and its education arm, the Philippine Judicial Academy (PhilJA).
The first was the National Consultative Summit on Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances that led to the adoption of the Writ of Amparo and the Writ of Habeas Data which, together with the Writ of Habeas Corpus, completed the citizens’ legal armory against violations and threats to life, liberty, security, and privacy.
The second was the “Forum on Increasing Access to Justice for the Poor” which led to an enhanced implementation of the Justice on Wheels (JoW) project. This paved the way for the release of more than 1,000 prisoners nationwide, and the establishment of the Small Claims Court that settles within one day claims involving less than P100,000 mostly filed by the poor.
Among the laws on the protection of the environment are the Revised Forestry Code, Marine Pollution, Toxic Substances and Hazardous Waste Act, People’s Small-Scale Mining Act, National Integrated Protected Areas System Act, Philippine Mining Act, Indigenous People’s Rights Act, Philippine Fisheries Code, Clean Air Act, Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, National Caves and Cave Resources Management Act, Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act, Chainsaw Act, and Clean Water Act.
Justice Consuelo Ynares Santiago has been tasked to summarize all suggestions in the two-day forum, particularly on the Rule of Procedure for Environmental Cases. –Rey E. Requejo, Manila Standard Today
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations
against serious violations of Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
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