The recent natural and man-made calamities and tragedies only highlight the need for a single government agency to exclusively focus on the protection of the environment.
"Everybody knows how many lives
have been lost to floods and landslides in Mindanao and other parts of the country, and the death toll count is still on. Damage to property and infrastructure could reach staggering levels," Reps. Rufus Rodriguez (2nd District, Cagayan de Oro City) and Maximo Rodriguez, Jr. (Party list, Abante Mindanao) lamented.
The Mindanao lawmakers, as if anticipating the recent tragedies, have proposed the creation of the National Environmental Protection Agency of the Philippines (NEPA) under the Executive Branch, whose mission is to protect health and the environment - air, water, and land - upon which life depends.
"We filed this bill before the floods recently hit the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan and other parts of Mindanao and the Visayas. We are so worried of what could happen next after the Compostela Valley landslides where we are still counting the number of casualties," Rodriguez deplored.
The proposed EPA is contained in HB 2798 which is under consideration by the House Committee on Government Reorganization chaired by Rep. Cesar Jalosjos (3rd District, Zamboanga del Norte). The measure will also be considered by the Committee on Natural Resources (chaired by Rep. Francisco Matugas - 1st District, Surigao del Norte) as secondary referral.
The NEPA shall be the primary arm of the government responsible for the conservation and protection of the country's environment. It shall be headed by a chairman, appointed by the President, with a Cabinet rank. The NEPA shall also have regional offices to be headed by Regional Executive Directors.
The authors took especial notice of the environmental Protection Agency in the United States which ensures the implementation of all environmental laws, the use of the best available scientific information, the integration of all environmental policies, ensure the participation and cooperation of the entire Filipino community.
In the Philippines, Rodriguez noted that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is mandated to protect the environment while at the same time, it has to oversee the utilization of the country's natural resources.
"The DENR is caught between conservation and utilization. The certainty of clashing of interests between environmental protection and conservation on the one hand and utilization and conservation on the other would be unavoidable," the authors said.
As such, they insist on the need to establish an independent agency that exclusively deals with protecting, promoting and enhancing the environment.
"An agency established to consolidate a variety of research, monitoring, standard-setting and enforcement activities to ensure environmental protection," the lawmakers said.
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