Like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis

Not many are aware that Laguna Lake Development Authority General Manager Neric Acosta was a lawmaker who focused on protecting our rights to a healthful and balanced ecology with bills on clean water, solid waste management and biodiversity protection. He was a principal sponsor of the much-lauded but another taken-for-granted law, the Clean Air Act, considered a “model of environmental legislation in Asia” and signed by president Joseph Estrada in 1999.

I had the opportunity to ask the affable Secretary Acosta, during the gathering of the Open Collaboration of East Asian New Champions (Ocean) last Saturday, how he feels knowing that the laws, with thousands of man-hours, meetings and efforts devoted to their passage, and so close to his heart, are sadly not implemented especially by our local government units (LGUs). It was a question borne out of frustration of the Executive Department’s continuing failure and inability to ensure the due execution of our environmental laws by our LGUs, which are considered agents of the State at the local level, given the devolved mandate of environmental protection.

It is bad enough that environmental laws are not enforced. It is worse when local government officials refuse to file cases against violators and worst when officials themselves violate the laws. Who will then protect our people and our planet when those tasked to perform the duty, the State and its agents, fail to do so or are themselves law breakers?

A concrete example is the pervasive non-compliance with the requirement of waste segregation and waste minimization under RA 9003, the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.

Which barangay, municipality or city in Cebu (except for one or two) has complied with the law?

Have they been held accountable by the supervising authority? No, and not surprising, because the supervising LGU simply lacks the ascendancy to do so. What is its moral authority to hold the non-performing barangays accountable when it is also in default of its obligations?

The implications of continuing disregard of our environmental statutes are dire, both for the people and our planet, especially as we all face the specter of a real climate crisis. Each violation of the law has damaging costs on the already degraded natural systems, dwindling species and as always, the health and livelihood of the people and our ability to cope with the impacts of climate change.

We ask why is there a tree-cutting rampage in this disaster-prone and deforested country with a forest cover of a measly 7.2 million hectares, the second lowest forest cover in Southeast Asia, and prone to disasters and landslides at that? It is inconsistent with the declared National Greening Program that is supposed to be our response to the issues of poverty, dwindling resources and climate change.

Cebu ranks 8th among the top 20 provinces in the country considered highly vulnerable to landslides. It is to its best interest to reforest terrains and not destroy resources.

Under Executive Order No. 26, series of 2011, local government units are duty-bound to have nurseries and production of planting materials, development of greening plan for urban and suburban areas, lead the establishment of communal tree farms for firewood and other domestic uses, construction of access roads and trails to the planting sites and provision of medical support, and technical assistance and extension of services. Likewise, LGUs are given the police powers to ensure that maintenance of a healthful and balanced ecology.

Destruction of trees in this era and in the condition we are in is a blatant and willful disregard of our rights to life and a healthful and balanced ecology and of the limitations and processes set by our statutes and the Constitution.

As crisis does bring opportunities, we see, like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, a much-appreciated political will on the part of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Central Visayas led by Director Isabelo Montejo. The determination not just to enforce the laws but to bring the offenders to justice, irrespective of their status, stature and rank, deserves commendation and wide public support.

I can think of the times, and there were not few, when we hoped the agency would live up to the mandates of its charter, Executive Order No. 192 and other special laws. DENR is after all the “primary government agency responsible for the conservation, management, development, and proper use of the country’s environment and natural resources, specifically forest and grazing lands of the public domain, as well as the licensing and regulation of all natural resources as maybe provided for by law in order to ensure equitable sharing of the benefits derived therefrom for the welfare of the present and future generations of Filipinos.”

DENR Central Visayas’ display of a no-nonsense enforcement in the forestry laws is like a prayer answered for our vanguards to finally protect us and the future generations. May this be sustained with the citizenry continuing to do their part by participating in decision-making and engaging with stakeholders, including government and the private sector.

The young and dynamic movers behind Ocean inspire us no end. They exemplify that kind of leadership that each citizen should possess. They believe, as we all should, that sustainability lies in our hands through continuing concerted actions to protect our planet and our people.