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Tuesday, October 11, 2005
IBP threatens to sue Defensor over waste law
The Integrated Bar of the Philippines-National Environmental Action Team (IBP-Neat) will take environment secretary Michael Defensor to court if he doesn’t implement the Ecological Solid Waste Management Law.
The IBP-Neat has given Defensor 30 days from receipt of a demand letter the group sent, urging him to deal with local government units (LGUs) that continue to ignore the law.
The letter said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has failed “to initiate any enforcement action” against the LGUs.
“This is most unfair not only to the people residing within the territory of the LGU, but also to other LGUs which have been trying to comply with the law. There is great frustration on our part, ordinary citizens, who have taken the lead in matters where government should,” the demand letter read.
In December 2004, the IBP-Neat filed a complaint against Mayor Tomas R. Osmeña for failing to implement the law. Last May 10, the Philippine Bar Association filed multiple lawsuits against three Metro Manila mayors.
The IBP-Neat noticed that many LGUs have yet to comply with the provisions of the law, especially against open dumpsites, as listed by the DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau (EMB).
In Cebu, more than 30 LGUs still use open dumpsites.
“What is surprising, however, is that DENR-EMB has done nothing further to enforce the law such as close the illegally operated and hazardous facilities,” the IBP-Neat said in their letter.
The IBP-Neat said that with the establishment of the Office of the Environmental Ombudsman, they can take legal actions against the LGUs.
“The stage has, therefore, been set and the template for strong enforcement action prepared,” the IBP-Neat letter read. (GN)
(October 11, 2005 issue)
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