Environment court’s creation pressed

The government should create an "environmental adjudication commission," or EAC, which will exclusively handle cases against companies that violate environmental laws to provide justice to victims of disasters caused by illegal logging and mining, a lawmaker said yesterday.

Davao Oriental Rep. Mario Almario has filed House Bill 5292 seeking the establishment of an EAC, which is "in accordance with the state’s policy to protect and advance the right of the people to a balanced ecology and a wholesome and healthy environment."

In a statement, Almario said this commission is important because "courts are clogged with so many cases, both criminal and civil, that environmental cases have not been prioritized.

"If the judiciary were to understand that environmental justice has to be dispensed with vital concern, then judges must command familiarity with the environmental laws’ norms and nuances," he said.

Almario, chairman of the House committee on games and amusement, said the laying down of laws to protect the environment needs to be supplemented by the proper enforcement of those environmental laws.

The casualties of calamities — such as the Leyte mudslide which claimed an estimated 1,800 lives last month — are always indigent communities and children, he lamented, adding that "the creation of the EAC will encourage our citizens to bring their suits to protect the environment rather than dishearten them and frustrate environmental justice."

Should HB 5292 be passed into law, the state can then provide a "venue dedicated to prosecuting and convicting offenders of environmental laws (and) protection of the environment," Almario said.

The proposed measure also provides that any decision, order or judgment of the EAC "shall become final and executory within 15 days after it is reported." — Delon Porcalla