It will be a lot a better if we understand where we are coming from. Based on the legal framework, the Philippine laws are sufficient enough to provide a climate conducive for systematic works in our country. These can be best exemplified by the following:
- State Ownership of Natural Resources
This is stated in the Article XII, Sec. 2 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, thus: “all lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum and other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy, fisheries, forests or timber, wildlife, flora and fauna, and other natural resources are owned by the State. With the exception of agricultural
lands, all other natural resources shall not be alienated”. Accordingly, “the exploration, development, and utilization of natural resources shall be under the full control and supervision of the State. The State may directly undertake such activities, or it may enter into coproduction, joint venture, or production sharing agreements with Filipino citizens or corporations or associations at least sixty per centum of whose capital is owned by such citizens”.
- PD 705 (1975) otherwise known as the “Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines”.
This is principal law governing forest management in the country. The Code contains basic forestry standards and practices such as areas needed for forestry, multiple use, forest utilization and management, and criminal offenses and penalties. PD 705 has been amended accordingly by Executive Order 277.
- RA 7586 (1992) or the “National Integrated Protected Area System” (NIPAS)
This is the principal law governing set asides or protected areas. NIPAS encompasses outstanding remarkable areas and biologically important public lands that are habitats of rare and endangered species of plants and animals, biogeographic zones and related ecosystems, all of which are designated as protected areas. The protected areas include strict and nature reserve, natural monument, wildlife sanctuary, protected landscapes and seascapes, resource reserve and natural biotic areas.
- PD 1152 of the Philippine Environment Code of 1977
This Code mandates the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to establish a system of national exploitation and conservation of wildlife resources and to encourage citizens’ participation in the maintenance and/or enhancement of their continuous productivity by: regulating the marketing of threatened wildlife resources, reviewing all existing rules and regulations on the exploitation of wildlife resources, and conserving the threatened species of wild fauna.
- Republic Act (RA) 8485 or the Animal Welfare Act of 1998
This RA intends to protect and promote the welfare of all animals in the Philippines by regulating the establishment and operations of all facilities utilized for breeding, maintaining, keeping, treating, or training of all animals either as objects of trade or as household pets;
- RA 7160 or the Local Government Code
This mandates local goverment units (LGU) to share with the national government the responsibility in the maintenance of ecological balance within their
territorial jurisdictions.
- RA 9147 or Tthe Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act
This RA aims to protect our country’s fauna from illicit trade, abuse and destruction, through (1) conserving and protecting wildlife species and their habitats, (2) regulating the collection and trade of wildlife, (3) pursuing, with due regard to the national interest, the Philippine commitment to international conventions, protection of wildlife and their habitats, and (4) initiating or supporting scientific studies on the conservation of biological diversity.
At the international level, the Philippines is a member of ASEAN which is advocating biodiversity conservation and wildlife protection through the ASEAN Working Group on Nature Conservation and Biodiversity (AWGNCB), and the ASEAN Regional Center for Biodiversity Conservation. Further, the Philippines is a signatory to the “Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora” (CITES) in 1981 which aims to regulate the international trade of wildlife species, its parts and by-products. The Philippines also ratified its membership in two other international conventions: the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS).
In short, the Philippines has one of the most voluminous set of environmental laws in Asia. According to Antonio 1996, the Philippine government has enacted approximately 118 environment related laws in the country. The presence of these laws, however, has not prevented the reduction in forest cover from about sixty percent (60%) fifty years ago, to the now critical state of ten percent (10%). Neither
has it prevented the destruction of our coral reefs to the now terminal state of only five percent (5%). Evidently, the legal framework of Philippine environmental law is sufficient in substance and in form, even superfluous. The level of implementation, however, suffers in the sickbed of non-compliance.
As such the field of ecological studies may be encouraging. Unfortunately with the loss of the country’s forest cover, the habitat of wild flora and fauna has likewise been lost. Habitat destruction can be attributed to logging, both legal and illegal, mining and energy projects, land use conversion, kaingin, pest and diseases, etc. While habitat destruction is considered as the reason for wildlife loss, other factors include weak institutional and legal mechanisms, domestication and hybridization, introduction of exotic species and overexploitaion for food and trade (http://www.cbd.int/doc/meetings/nbsap). Truly, it is a maze of which comes first. Nonetheless, procrastination should be set aside. Progressive thinking should then be a priority. How ecology education can help alleviate the problem then? This can be achieved but not limited to the following:
- Educating, providing and disseminating information materials such as what are the ban species for trading, and what are the prohibited acts to the grassroots level
- Providing skills to locals in conservation planning and management
- Providing of technical expertise in the DENR, Wildlife Enforcement Officers and LGUs in the proper identification of wildlife and in paralegal.
- Beefing up enforcement of Wildlife Law, i.e., if the officers tasked to apprehend illegal wildlife peddlers do not know how to identify a particular wildlife, then wildlife law enforcement will have little chance of success.
- Creating wildlife rescue centers and wildlife monitoring units duly managed by competent ecologist, biologist, systematist and veterinarians
Education will be futile if there are no political will to implement the laws vis-a-vis with government support in infrastructure such as:
- Providing sufficient resources for wildlife protection by allocating in the General Appropriations Act for Wildlife Protection (I presumed that this is not included)
- Establishing checkpoints and monitoring units at airports and ports
- Providing legal and protective support against harassment for those who enforce the Wildlife Act and similar environmental laws
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