LinkedPrime
Jobs
Politics

Regulatory failure at the DENR

IN our frenzy to find and hold accountable the culprits behind the flood control bribery scandal, we might overlook the failure of regulatory authorities to turn down or stop projects that can have disastrous ecological consequences for the communities around them.One of the most ironic examples of this regulatory failure comes from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), which has released a “Freedom of Information (FOI) Manual” that promises transparency but delivers the exact opposite.That document is now being challenged before the Supreme Court by the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC) and Bishop Cerilo Casicas of the Diocese of Marbel in Koronadal, South Cotabato.The petition, filed against Executive Secretary Ralph Recto and Environment Secretary Raphael Lotilla, argues that the manual has been used to systematically deny public access to environmental impact statements (EIS), mining application documents and data related to flood control projects.The legal challenge focuses on two specific exceptions listed in the DENR FOI Manual: one that blocks access to “any data in the course of applying for an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC)” and another that restricts a wide range of mining documents “during the lifetime or existence of a mining permit.”The petitioners argued that this has created a “blanket restriction” on information related to 447 major environmentally critical projects across the country, including 69 heavy industries, 173 resource extractive industries, and 169 infrastructure projects.The case stemmed from the LRC’s repeated failed attempts to obtain documents concerning the massive Tampakan Copper-Gold Project in South Cotabato.Despite multiple requests and appeals between 2023 and 2025, the DENR and its bureaus denied access to the project’s key documents, citing the contested manual.The petition also highlights that requests for information on flood control projects, amid recent corruption scandals, were similarly denied.The LRC and Bishop Casicas contend that this secrecy violates the constitutional right to information on matters of public concern, the state policy of full public disclosure and the rights to a balanced ecology, health and public participation in decision-making.“The DENR FOI Manual has become the primary obstacle to the meaningful exercise of the constitutional right to information on matters of public environmental concern,” the petitioners said.They are asking the Supreme Court to issue a temporary restraining order to halt the manual’s implementation immediately and, after deliberation, to permanently void the regulation for being unconstitutional.The DENR has also failed to protect the environment — and safeguard communities — in Cebu City, where it belatedly “uncovered” massive tree cutting and multiple environmental violations at the Monterrazas de Cebu hillside development after it launched a full investigation in the wake of reports of flooding and soil movement in the area triggered by Typhoon Tino.The Rise at Monterrazas, the real estate project inspired by the Banaue Rice Terraces, is a 19-story condominium sitting on the slope of a mountain. Faced with early environmental concerns, the developers said the project underwent 300 revisions, but did not say how these changes would reduce the risk of downstream flooding.After an inspection on Nov. 6 and 7, Eddie Llanedo, the DENR’s assistant regional director for technical services, said investigators found only 11 trees left on the 140-hectare property, out of the 745 counted in a tree inventory conducted in October 2022. This, he added, violated Presidential Decree 705, or the Forestry Code of the Philippines.The Monterrazas development also violated the Clean Water Act and the Philippine Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) System. The department said it also failed to comply with 10 of the 33 conditions set by its ECC.Investigators also found that several of the 17 detention ponds designed to manage storm water runoff were either damaged or heavily silted, leading to uncontrolled surface runoff that worsened flooding in nearby communities downhill.“These conditions contributed to the flooding experienced down slope,” Llanedo said.While the project developers have challenged the DENR findings, critics and nearby residents who suffered flooding have asked why the department had issued an ECC for the project in the first place, given community concerns about the hillside development’s impact on surface runoff and flood control. The need for a belated investigation, they said, suggest a failure in the DENR’s initial oversight and monitoring.In a Senate hearing on Nov. 13, a DENR regional official could not say who was responsible for issuing an ECC to the project, but said it underwent the full environmental impact assessment process, and that an independent body recommended its approval.But given the recent disastrous flooding in Cebu, this response is not only unacceptable, but also smacks of negligence and raises serious questions about the credibility and effectiveness of the DENR’s impact assessment process.

The Editorial Board •
Regulatory failure at the DENR

IN our frenzy to find and hold accountable the culprits behind the flood control bribery scandal, we might overlook the failure of regulatory authorities to turn down or stop projects that can have disastrous ecological consequences for the communities around them.One of the most ironic examples of this regulatory failure comes from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), which has released a “Freedom of Information (FOI) Manual” that promises transparency but delivers the exact opposite.That document is now being challenged before the Supreme Court by the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC) and Bishop Cerilo Casicas of the Diocese of Marbel in Koronadal, South Cotabato.The petition, filed against Executive Secretary Ralph Recto and Environment Secretary Raphael Lotilla, argues that the manual has been used to systematically deny public access to environmental impact statements (EIS), mining application documents and data related to flood control projects.The legal challenge focuses on two specific exceptions listed in the DENR FOI Manual: one that blocks access to “any data in the course of applying for an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC)” and another that restricts a wide range of mining documents “during the lifetime or existence of a mining permit.”The petitioners argued that this has created a “blanket restriction” on information related to 447 major environmentally critical projects across the country, including 69 heavy industries, 173 resource extractive industries, and 169 infrastructure projects.The case stemmed from the LRC’s repeated failed attempts to obtain documents concerning the massive Tampakan Copper-Gold Project in South Cotabato.Despite multiple requests and appeals between 2023 and 2025, the DENR and its bureaus denied access to the project’s key documents, citing the contested manual.The petition also highlights that requests for information on flood control projects, amid recent corruption scandals, were similarly denied.The LRC and Bishop Casicas contend that this secrecy violates the constitutional right to information on matters of public concern, the state policy of full public disclosure and the rights to a balanced ecology, health and public participation in decision-making.“The DENR FOI Manual has become the primary obstacle to the meaningful exercise of the constitutional right to information on matters of public environmental concern,” the petitioners said.They are asking the Supreme Court to issue a temporary restraining order to halt the manual’s implementation immediately and, after deliberation, to permanently void the regulation for being unconstitutional.The DENR has also failed to protect the environment — and safeguard communities — in Cebu City, where it belatedly “uncovered” massive tree cutting and multiple environmental violations at the Monterrazas de Cebu hillside development after it launched a full investigation in the wake of reports of flooding and soil movement in the area triggered by Typhoon Tino.The Rise at Monterrazas, the real estate project inspired by the Banaue Rice Terraces, is a 19-story condominium sitting on the slope of a mountain. Faced with early environmental concerns, the developers said the project underwent 300 revisions, but did not say how these changes would reduce the risk of downstream flooding.After an inspection on Nov. 6 and 7, Eddie Llanedo, the DENR’s assistant regional director for technical services, said investigators found only 11 trees left on the 140-hectare property, out of the 745 counted in a tree inventory conducted in October 2022. This, he added, violated Presidential Decree 705, or the Forestry Code of the Philippines.The Monterrazas development also violated the Clean Water Act and the Philippine Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) System. The department said it also failed to comply with 10 of the 33 conditions set by its ECC.Investigators also found that several of the 17 detention ponds designed to manage storm water runoff were either damaged or heavily silted, leading to uncontrolled surface runoff that worsened flooding in nearby communities downhill.“These conditions contributed to the flooding experienced down slope,” Llanedo said.While the project developers have challenged the DENR findings, critics and nearby residents who suffered flooding have asked why the department had issued an ECC for the project in the first place, given community concerns about the hillside development’s impact on surface runoff and flood control. The need for a belated investigation, they said, suggest a failure in the DENR’s initial oversight and monitoring.In a Senate hearing on Nov. 13, a DENR regional official could not say who was responsible for issuing an ECC to the project, but said it underwent the full environmental impact assessment process, and that an independent body recommended its approval.But given the recent disastrous flooding in Cebu, this response is not only unacceptable, but also smacks of negligence and raises serious questions about the credibility and effectiveness of the DENR’s impact assessment process.

Read original article →

Related Articles