GREEN

COURT IN THE
ISLANDS
Facts about the Philippines

• Archipelago of
7,107 islands
• Luzon, Visayas,
Mindanao
• Total population in
2007 was 88.57
million
Bantayan Group of Islands, Petitioner
• Northwestern portion of
Cebu in the Visayas
• Declared as a protected
area
• Joined by residents,
taxpayers and citizens
• with an enforceable “right
to a healthful and
balanced ecology for the
protection of the natural
and national patrimony”.
Department of Environment and
Natural Resources and Officers,
Respondents
• Patrimonial malpractice
• Failure to enforce the National Integrated
Protected Areas System Act of 1992
(NIPAS Law), the Water Code (PD 1067)
and laws that delineate the recreation
and salvage zone.
• Failure to promulgate a Management
Plan
Application for temporary
restraining order
• To prohibit the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources
from issuing Environmental
Compliance Certificates
• Denied
• “Causal relation between the damage
to plaintiff and the acts of complained
of requires a hearing on the merits”
• Ocular inspection was considered
The
The ocular
ocular inspection
inspection on
on May
May 18,
18,
2009
2009

• Santa Fe, Bantayan Island

• List of Individuals/Companies With
Structures Within the Easement Zone
• Pictures of the inspected sites, which
were beach resorts to capture the
conditions outside the establishments
vis-à-vis the seashore
PD 1067 - The Water Code of the
Philippines
“The banks of rivers and streams and the
shores . . . throughout their entire length
and within a zone of 3 meters in urban
areas, 20 meters in agricultural areas and
40 meters in forest areas, along their
margins subject to the easement of public
use . . . of recreation, navigation, floatage,
fishing and salvage.”
Writ of preliminary mandatory
injunction was granted.
• No Rules of Procedure for
Environmental Cases yet.
• Public respondents enjoined from
processing and approving
applications for Environmental
Compliance Certificates to
constructions and projects in
Bantayan Island.
 Partial judgment with
pictures
• To clear the 20-meter margin of the
seashores in the beach resorts within
60 days
• To conduct inspection sites of the
shores around the Island
• To document structures or
constructions that violate the 20-meter
easement zone
• To submit the pertinent Report
Intervention was denied.
• No legal interest
• Issue on whether the environmental
laws in Bantayan Island have been
enforced, a matter addressed only to
public respondents.
• Ruling in MMDA, et. al. vs. Concerned
Residents of Manila Bay, et. al., G.R.
171947, December 18, 2008
 Order became final.
• Department of Environment and
Natural Resources did not question
the order
• Readiness to fulfill responsibility
• Writ of execution was issued
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

JUDGE MARILYN LAGURA-YAP

Regional Trial Court
Branch 28, Mandaue City
Philippines
judgeyap@yahoo.com