DENR chief orders review of permits issuance process

MANILA, Philippines – Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Jose L. Atienza has ordered a review of the procedures and requirements for the issuance of permits and environmental compliance certificates (ECC).

“We need to hasten the process, simplify it, ease unnecessary requirements so that investors, both foreign and local, will eventually flow in upon getting the necessary clearances,” Atienza said.

Streamlining the process would also help eliminate corruption, he added.

Atienza issued a special order last Friday directing Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) Director Julian Amador to chair the review committee with Assistant Secretary Jeremias Dolino as vice-chairman, and Assistant Secretaries Analiza Teh, Juan Miguel Cuna, and all directors of bureaus under the DENR as members.

Atienza directed the committee to streamline the Philippine Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) System process, particularly on the reduction of the number of days of processing the (ECC) and the certificate of non-coverage (CNC).

He said “this drastic streamlining that we will be doing will also remove occasions of graft and corruption and hasten the sustainable development of our natural resources.”

This way, “we can help generate more investments which will lead to more jobs for our fellow kababayan,” he added.

The DENR, Atienza continued, will also strengthen its monitoring capability.

The DENR chief explained that “it is our monitoring that should really count heavily in protecting the environment, whether in forestry projects, ecotourism development or mining.”

The committee has been given until the first week of July to report on the output of the status and progress of their operations. — Marianne Go