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By Haribon Foundation
THE designation of environmental courts is not
new to the Philippines. In 1993 the Supreme Court issued an
administrative order designating certain trial courts in the country
to hear all cases of forestry law violations within the identified
priority areas.
The courts were located in areas where
violations were rampant. With the current court system, aside from
the forestry cases, other violations of environmental laws are not
segregated, but are rather lumped together with other cases (e.g.
criminal and civil).
In collaboration with the Philippine Judicial
Academy (PhilJa) through the support of the United Nations
Development Program Global Environment Facility Small Grants Program
(UNDP GEF SGP), Haribon’s study on environmental cases and their
adjudication in the Philippines revealed that with the number of
environmental violations increasing and the rampant degradation of
the environment, specific environmental courts, or green benches are
urgently needed to hear and resolve environmental cases. Faster
court decisions could not only set precedents, but also serve as
deterrents to future offenses.
A complex bottleneck
The filing of environment-related cases has
dramatically increased within the past three years. Based on the
“Trend of Case Filing” graph (p.18), the number of environment
related cases filed in a matter of just eight years, has clearly
risen by a saddening tenfold from 1998 to 2006.
Based on the PhilJa data, there are currently
3,120 cases filed in relation to violations of environmental laws.
The regions with the highest number of active cases are Region 5 (Bicol
Region combined) with 675, Region 6 (Western Visayas) with 498 and
Region IV-B (MIMAROPA) with 482. Per region, the distribution of
cases filed, are as follows on table 1.1
With the sheer bulk of cases handled by each
trial court, the length of time needed to decide cases in the
Regional Trial Courts and Municipal Trial Courts considerably vary.2
But with only 1,682 justices and judges in 2,153 courts in the
country, the waiting time is expected to be long. In terms of
environmental cases filed, out of the 3,102 cases, 109 were filed
before 1998, roughly 3.5% of cases which are already a decade old,
are still undecided. The length of time needed to decide cases in
the Regional Trial Courts and Municipal Trial Courts considerably
vary.3 In terms of environmental cases filed, out of the 3,102
cases, 109 were filed before 1998, roughly 3.5% of cases which are
already a decade old are still undecided. Following William
Gladstone’s famous line, “justice delayed, is justice denied.”
And this cannot be more true than in the Philippines, in Philippine
environmental cases none the less.
The overwhelming number of cases filed in
relation to environmental violations, are not the only cases being
handled by the concerned judges and their respective courts. Based
on 2006 statistics, on the national scale, the total caseload of the
Judiciary is 745,360, with the Regional Trial Courts (RTC) handling
360, 402 cases, while the Municipal Trial Courts (MTC) handling
362,000.4 In 2004, each Regional Trial Court in the country on
the average handles 464 cases while each first-level courts (MTC or
MCTC) handles an average of 695 cases. There are even a few courts
that have as much as 6,000 cases pending before them.5
Legislations and violations
On the brighter side, there are progressively
more environmental legislations being passed. The entry into force
of the Kyoto Protocol in 2005,6 will push the enforcement of
RA 8749 (The Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999) and open the
possibility of filing more cases against smoke belching, substandard
emissions and industrial and agricultural incineration.7
On the downside, when legislations are passed,
violations are being defined, and given the current processing rate,
the bottleneck in filing and hearing environmental cases will
inevitably increase.
In relation to mining,8 the PhilJa data
reveals that out of the 3,120 cases filed only 3 are mining related.
However, data from the organization Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) reveals
that there are hundreds of cases involving mining in the country.
Aside from the more celebrated Marcopper and Rapu-Rapu mining cases,
there are other documented mining cases, which are pending filing in
the proper courts as conciliation procedures are still being tried.
The number of small-scale mining violations should also be
considered, specially since they cannot be exactly determined at the
moment, but are estimated to be also in the hundreds.9
Regular courts as special environmental
courts
The most efficient way to establish
environmental courts is to designate specific regular courts. Existing
courts having heavy caseloads of environment-related cases based on
data of the Office of the Court Administrator may be designated to
sit as environmental courts in their areas. Since the judges in
these courts have the experience in handling environment cases it
would not be difficult for them to specialize and to undergo further
training in environmental law. To ensure that regular courts
designated as environmental courts would be able to dispose of cases
speedily, special environmental courts should either be deloaded of
their criminal and civil cases or not assigned new ones.
The designation of green benches serves as
mechanisms to ensure the sustainability of the right to a healthy
and balanced ecology. Though the faster delivery of environmental
justice is sought, it is not the be-all and end-all of environmental
courts. A transgenerational guarantee of enjoying the benefits of
ecologic rights is also being aimed at. The proper working of all
state mechanisms in ensuring environmental sustainability is a
necessary imperative in the environmental quality that the future
will inherit.
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The recent designation of environmental courts
is an output of Haribon Foundation’s Green Benches 2 Project
funded by UNDP GEF SGP. Haribon’s main role is helping the Office
of the Court Administrator with the database that was used by the
Philippine Judicial Academy to come up with a concept paper on green
courts.
For information, e-mail: communication@haribon.org.ph,
or visit www.haribon.org.ph
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