A sad news was reported last month about the killing of a tamaraw and the drying of its meat for food in Mounts Iglit-Baco National Park (MIBNP).
Environment Assistant Secretary Ricardo Calderon described the incident as “unfortunate.”
The Philippine tamaraw, also known as the Mindoro dwarf buffalo, remains critically endangered. Only around 600 of them are left in the wild, mostly in the hinterlands of Mount Iglit and Mount Baco.
The incident occurred at a time when the economic impact of the new coronavirus disease is taking its toll on poor communities around the MIBNP.
With no source of income, nearby communities are forced to go to the forest to hunt animals, cut trees and harvest wood for fuel, adding more pressure on the environment.
This dire situation mirrors what may in fact be happening in other Protected Areas in various parts of the country.
Task force dependent
In a telephone interview on August 30, Calderon said this highlights the need to enhance the law enforcement capacity of the DENR once and for all.
“What we really need is to enhance our law enforcement capacities to fight environmental crimes,” said Calderon, concurrent Director of the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
The DENR depends largely on the mandate of special task forces to enforce environmental laws.
The DENR is tasked to implement various laws and fight environmental crimes, yet unlike some government agencies, it has no law enforcement unit of its own at its disposal, Nilo Tamoria, executive director of the DENR’s Environmental Protection and Enforcement Task Force (EPETF), said.
Even the Environmental Management Bureau, a line agency of the DENR, which is mandated to enforce laws against pollution, such as the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act, have greatly depended on other law enforcement agencies like the National Bureau of Investigation or the Philippine National Police. The same goes with the other DENR bureaus.
The Mines and Geosciences Bureau implements the Mining Act of 1995. The BMB implements laws like the Wildlife Act, Cave Act, and National Integrated Protected Areas System (Nipas) Act and its amendatory law, Expanded-Nipas Act. The Forest Management Bureau implements the Forest Code.
Not enough
“Every time a new administration takes over, a special task force is created. This is not enough,” Tamoria told the BusinessMirror in a telephone interview on September 8.
He said the threats faced by DENR employees out in the field are real.
There are incidents that DENR employees get killed by environmental criminals who are often armed and dangerous.
He said the DENR needs a permanent bureau dedicated to enforcing environmental laws and regulations to become more effective in protecting the environment.
Protection, enforcement bureau
During a webinar on August 28 organized by the DENR that discussed the proposed bill creating the Environmental Protection and Enforcement Bureau (EPEB), Tamoria said the measure will ensure the sustainability of the fight against environmental crimes and strengthen its enforcement mandate.
“That’s why the DENR secretary has been pushing for the creation of a separate law enforcement bureau within the DENR,” he said.
During the webinar organized by the EPETF and the United States Agency for International Development through its Protect Wildlife Project, key provisions of House Bill 6973 filed by Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda was presented by Tamoria. The proposed measure has been referred to the Committees on Government Reorganization and on Natural Resources.
The bill aims to capacitate DENR enforcers through the establishment of an Enforcement Academy, where they can learn skills and techniques normally taught to mainstream law enforcement agents.
Once in operation, Tamoria said the proposed EPEB will “level up the DENR as the country’s lead agency for environmental law enforcement as it wages war against environmental crimes.”
Putting focus
When sought for reaction, Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) Executive Director Theresa Mundita Lim said a separate enforcement bureau for the environment and natural resources will hopefully help in putting focus and providing consistent attention on the implementation of environmental laws, rules and regulations.
“Those who will be tasked to manage the new agency must be familiar with all the ENR [Environment and Batural resources] laws, including those related to biodiversity, as well as the treaties that relate to transboundary violations,” said Lim, a former director of the DENR-BMB said.
Once established, environmental law enforcers, she said, also need to be adept at handling evidence, such as under the Wildlife Act.
“These will involve live specimens and endangered meat and other by-products which may have special requirements, to preserve the integrity of the evidence,” Lim said.
Currently, ACB conducts capacity building programs on the use of various tools for park managers and rangers on wildlife enforcement in Asean Heritage Parks.
Competence, political will
Sought for comment, Fernando Hicap, national chairman of the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya), said the proposed bureau for environmental enforcement is nothing but an added layer of bureaucracy, redundancy and if not a milking cow.
“The existing Environmental Management Bureau [EMB] that was mandated to enforce a wide range of environmental laws, can’t even function as it is, “Hicap said via Messenger on September 8.
DENR’s failure to enforce several environmental laws and uphold the protection of the environment “is not because of the absence of a specific bureau, but a matter of competence and political will from the leadership of the department,” he added.
Environmental policy regime
For his part, Leon Dulce, national coordinator of the environmental group Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment said a change in environmental policy regime is needed.
“If we do not change the environmental policy regime that favors big mining, logging and other destructive projects, a new layer of bureaucracy will just implement the same old failed regulations,” Dulce told the BusinessMirror in an interview on September 8.
He said there is a need to study first the fundamental failures of environmental governance in the Philippines instead of enacting the proposed measure.
“We have protected areas and Bantay Gubat [Forest Guards] and Bantay Dagat [Sea Patrol] work forces that are grossly underfunded and under capacitated. We have conflicting land-use claims,” he said.
The country’s natural resource management is focused on exporting wealth instead of planning its utilization for people’s needs he added.
Dulce said environmental defenders are also treated as enemies of the state instead of partners for achieving environmental justice and protection in service to the Filipino public.
“There must be a priority on enacting thoroughgoing reforms focused on policy and practices. The proposed environmental enforcement bureau must be studied within this framework of analysis,” he added.
Prioritize environment protection, conservation
Dulce said there’s a need to prioritize environmental protection and biodiversity conservation by allocating more funds. With more funds, more protection can be achieved.
“The number of employed forest rangers must be tripled and their salaries, benefits, equipment and capacities bolstered. Sea patrols must likewise be increased in number and capacities,” he said.
The main problem is lack of funding and capacity for our existing environmental work force, he said.
“Our Bantay Gubat and Bantay Dagat are already performing admirably despite the lack of state subsidy so the logical thing to do is to improve support for them. We should work on these fundamentals first before we talk about a new layer of bureaucracy,” Dulce pointed out.
Image credits: EPETF