Filtered By: Topstories
News

Con-com wants environmental rights in new charter


Filipinos may be able to fall back on the Constitution when holding the government accountable for damage to the environment under the set of rights to be proposed by the expert panel drafting a federal charter.

The rights to compensation for damage to the environment and and a stronger writ of kalikasan are among those covered by the rights to be included in the proposed Bill of Rights of the Consultative Committee (Con-com), said panel chair former Chief Justice Reynato Puno on Monday.

"It's about time we constitutionalize this provision, this right of the people to a healthful environment. And we intend to do this by putting in all these self-executing provisions in the Bill of Rights," Puno said at a press briefing.

"In other words, by doing this, we shall be putting at par this right to a healthy environment with the civil and political rights of the people; meaning to say this right to a healthy environment will equally be demandable against the State and each agency," he added.

The Con-com has yet to deliberate on the wording of the following to-be-proposed rights, Puno said:

  • Right to clean air and water
  • Right to a healthy environment and ecology
  • Right to the preservation of ecosystems
  • Right to be protected from activities that destroy the environment
  • Right to sustainable development
  • Right to compensation for damage to environment
  • Recourse to courts for immediate protection
  • Stronger writ of kalikasan in the bill of rights so that it may not be subject to withdrawal or revision by the Congress or the Supreme Court

While Congress has come up with several environmental laws, including those on sanitation and mining, the Constitution itself is "silent on this right of our people against environmental degradation," said the former top magistrate.

What the 1987 Charter does contain is limited to one sentence, he said. Under Article II, Section 16: "The State shall protect and advance the right of the people to a balanced and healthful ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature."

Boracay

Pressed on how these proposals will apply to the situation in tourist hotspot Boracay, which is hounded by environmental issues, Puno pointed to a lack of law enforcement.

"Given the situation in Boracay and in other areas as well, you can see that part of the problem is the lack of enforcement of our laws on our environment. And this lack of enforcement can be traced to the failure [of] among others the local governments to enforce the relevant laws," he said.

"If we constitutionalize this right to a good and healthy environment, you will be empowering the citizenry, the people to demand from the state, each agency, including the public health units to enforce these laws on the environment [and] correspondingly to hold them accountable for their failure to implement these relevant laws."

Puno said he believes there will be less opposition to the environmental rights the Concom will propose, unlike those on political dynasties and term limits.

"I do not know how extensive will be the opposition but I like to think that the intensity will be less, because at present we have had very good environmental laws coming from Congress," he said.

The Con-com's proposals, which will be submitted to the President by July, may either be accepted or rejected by the legislature. — RSJ, GMA News

LOADING CONTENT