Creation of Environmental Protection Agency proposed

MANILA, Philippines - Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri has proposed the creation of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to oversee the government’s anti-pollution program.

The Environmental Protection Bill seeks to create an EPA that would not be part of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

It would be headed by a chairman appointed by the President.

The DENR already has a wide range of activities related to the environment, Zubiri said.

The EPA would be tasked to identify pollutants, “tracing them through the entire ecological chain, observing and recording changes in form as they occur, determining the total exposure of man and his environment to toxic waste, examining interactions among forms of pollutions and identifying where in the ecological chain interdiction will be most appropriate.”

It would have broad powers for research, standard-setting, monitoring and enforcement with regard to five environmental hazards: air and water pollution, solid waste disposal, radiation and pesticides.

As proposed, the powers, functions, duties and responsibilities of some of the DENR’s line agencies such as the Environmental Management Bureau, the Protected Wildlife, Pollution Adjudication Board and the National Water and Air Pollution Control Commission would be transferred to the EPA.

The EPA would also be tasked to establish and enforce environmental protection standards; advise the President and Congress on the enactment of laws on conservation and protection of the environment and natural resources; undertake exploration, assessment, classification and inventory of the country’s natural resources using any and all available technology; oversee, supervise and police natural resources, which include cancellation or cause to cancel privileges and arrangements; and promulgate rules and regulations for the control of water, air and land pollution.