Saturday, October 11, 2008 2 DENR top men yanked off Cebu By Liberty A. Pinili & Karlon N. RamaOf Sun.Star Cebu
TWO officials of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) 7 were relieved of their positions last week, as part of what Environment Secretary Lito Atienza described as “the continuing organizational development” of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Atienza, in an order dated Sept. 29, 2008, relieved EMB 7 Regional Director Alan C. Arranguez and lawyer Noel C. Empleo, officer-in-charge of the EMB legal division.
Arranguez has been transferred to the regional technical division for research of the DENR 7 while Empleo has been returned to the DENR 7 legal division. The order did not state the two officials’ new designations.
A civil suit was filed against the environment department, its sub-agencies, officials and employees yesterday over their alleged issuance of “anomalous” environmental compliance certificates (ECC).
A lawyer-source who asked not to be named said the issuance of such ECCs recently resulted in the relief of Arranguez and Empleo.
The two were, however, not named in the suit filed yesterday.
Bantayan
Lawyer Antonio Oposa, head of the Manila-based Law of Nature Foundation, together with seven others who are residents of the three towns within Bantayan, filed the suit as “party representatives” and as “guardians and stewards of the Island’s natural beauty and bounty, and in their capacity as taxpayers.”
Lawyer Rolando N. Luego, who used to be part of the DENR 7 legal division, has been appointed as officer-in-charge of EMB 7.
Luego said he will make sure that there will be transparency in the operations of the EMB 7.
“That’s going to be the major change. I want to erase the negative image of the EMB and create a wholesome image, address the people’s doubts about the bureau,” he said in an interview yesterday.
He said he still has to study the various processes at EMB, which is responsible for ensuring that private and public entities and their projects do not harm the environment. Among EMB’s main functions is to evaluate how projects affect the environment and impose strategies to prevent or mitigate these effects.
One of the instruments the EMB uses is the ECC.
Reorganization
Luego said he will look into ways to strengthen the enforcement of environmental regulations. He admitted, though, that he is not aware what caused his transfer or those of Arranguez and Empleo.
Arranguez confirmed to Sun.Star Cebu over the phone that he has been transferred. But he did not say why.
Empleo, in a separate interview yesterday, said he is not aware of any case that may be the reason for his transfer.
“As far as I know, wa man ko’y kaso. Basin re-organization lang gyud,” he said. (There are no cases filed against me. Maybe it’s really just a reorganization.)
Sources at DENR said, though, that Empleo and Arranguez were subjected to a lifestyle check by the ombudsman and the National Bureau of Investigation in Manila. Empleo and Arranguez refused to comment on this angle.
The case filed yesterday centers on the alleged issuance of anomalous ECCs covering projects that private entities are implementing in Bantayan.
The petitioners want the court to stop the DENR from issuing ECCs anywhere inside the Bantayan Group of Islands, until it comes up with a management plan to protect the island group’s biodiversity and ecology.
Green bench
The 40-page petition, with photos, was filed before Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Marilyn Yap as a special civil action and named the Bantayan Group of Islands as the actual petitioner.
Naming the island group as a party to the case follows the same track as Oposa’s previous case, which led to the Oposa vs. Factoran ruling of the Supreme Court (SC). In that, Oposa named the “generations yet unborn” as petitioner and got the SC to establish the principle of “intergenerational responsibility.”
Yap’s court in Mandaue City has been declared a “green bench” or an environmental court by the SC.
The suit named as respondents the DENR, represented by Secretary Atienza, and the DENR 7, led by Regional Executive Director Leonardo Sibbaluca.
It asked the court to order the DENR to come up with a protected area management plan for the entire island. It also wants the DENR to “immediately suspend, cancel or revoke” ECCs and special permits already issued and, among others, stop the construction and operation of swimming pools in the island.
Unplanned
The Bantayan Group of Islands, the suit said, has been declared a protected area by two special laws: Presidential Proclamation 2151 of 1981 and Presidential Proclamation 1234, of 1998. It is covered by the National Integrated Protected Area Systems (Nipas) Act of 1992.
Sixteen years after the Nipas act was enacted, however, the DENR has “failed and neglected to prepare the protected area management plan for Bantayan as mandated by law.”
Instead, the suit said, the DENR has allowed private entities to implement projects within the island.
“The DENR has been issuing so-called ECCs as well as special use agreements. This ‘permit’, in effect, allows the construction of vertical works and the conversion of land use in these protected areas,” the petitioners said.
Without identifying the parties believed responsible for the issuance of the ECCs, nor the private entities who have benefited from them, the lawsuit said that the DENR is “guilty of abusing its high office and mandate, an act of malfeasance or mal-practice.”
