2.

RUZOL vs. SANDIGANBAYAN

G.R. Nos. 186739-960, April 17, 2013

FACTS:
Mayor Ruzol of General Nakar, Quezon organized a Multi-Sectoral Consultative
Assembly composed of civil society groups, public officials and concerned stakeholders
with the end in view of regulating and monitoring the transportation of salvaged forest
products within the vicinity of General Nakar.
During the assembly, the participants agreed to regulate the salvaged forests
products, the Office of the Mayor through Ruzol, shall issue a permit to transport after
payment of the corresponding fees to the municipal treasurer.
On the basis of the number of Permits to Transport were issued which bore the
signature of Mayor Ruzol, Informations for violation of Art. 177 of the RPC or for
Usurpation of Authority or Official Functions were filed against him.
Mayor Ruzol allegedly violated Art. 177 of the RPC because he issued the permits
under the pretense of official position and without being lawfully entitled to do so, such
authority properly belonging to the DENR, to the damage and prejudice of the
government.

ISSUE:
WON the DENR has the exclusive authority to monitor the transport of forest
products.

RULING:
No, the DENR does not have the exclusive authority.

Sec. 4, EO 192 (Reorganization Act of the DENR) provides that the Department
shall be the primary government agency responsible for the conservation, management,
development, and proper use of the country’s environment and natural resources.
Moreover, the general welfare clause provided in Sec. 16, Chapter 2, Title 1, Book 1 of
RA 7160 is a massive grant of authority that enables LGUs to perform or exercise just
about any power that will benefit their local constituencies.

While the law has designated DENR as the primary agency tasked to protect the
environment, it was not the intention of the law to arrogate unto the DENR the exclusive
prerogative of exercising this function. On the contrary, the claim of DENR’s supposedly
exclusive mandate is easily negated by the principle of local autonomy enshrined in the
1987 Constitution in relation to the general welfare clause under Sec. 16 of RA 7160.

As held in Oposa v. Factoran, Jr., the right of the people "to a balanced and
healthful ecology carries with it the correlative duty to refrain from impairing the
environment." In ensuring that this duty is upheld and maintained, a local government unit
may, if it deems necessary, promulgate ordinances aimed at enhancing the right of the
people to a balanced ecology and, accordingly, provide adequate measures in the proper
utility and conservation of natural resources within its territorial jurisdiction.

Therefore, there is a clear merit to the view that the monitoring and regulation of
salvaged forest products through the issuance of appropriate permits is a shared
responsibility which may be done either by DENR or by the LGUs or by both.