DENR eyes harsher penalties on violators of environmental laws

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) intends to implement higher fines and more stringent penalties against companies and other entities that violate environmental laws.

Law enforcement agencies will be tasked to come up with a blueprint on assessing the value of ecological damage for a court of law to use in measuring liabilities and setting the amount of fines and other sanctions on the offenders.

"It is imperative to impose higher fines for the commission of any violation against the country’s environmental laws if we are to really curb offenses like indiscriminate disposal of garbage, illegal logging, wildlife poaching and smuggling, to name a few,” Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu said in a statement on Wednesday.

“At present, damage from environmental crime cannot be fully accounted for as we have yet to develop a mechanism that would determine the full compensation cost for the damage made," Cimatu noted. — VDS, GMA News