ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES AND ITS IMPLICATIONS TO HUMAN RIGHTS

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ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT IN THE
PHILIPPINES AND ITS IMPLICATIONS TO HUMAN RIGHTS

• Ingrid Rosalie L. Gorre

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Origins of environmental impact assessment

• founded on principle of good neihborliness
• sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedas
• right to do activities within your property is
  limited by duty not to harm property of others
• EIA process arose as part of necessity to provide
  adequate and early information on likely
  environmental consequence a development project
  is likely to cause

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Human Rights that interphase with the EIA
process.

• Right to environmental information
• Right to participate in environmental
  decision-making
• Right to a remedy
• Right to a safe and healthy environment

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Areas of the EIA process that communities can use

• Right to be notified of project, have copy of the
  EIS and be informed of the decision
• Scoping
• Public hearing
• Monitoring
• Environmental guarantee fund

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Some problematic areas

• Definition of social acceptability
• Fast-tracking automatic approval upon lapse of
  a period
• Lack of notice under the new DENR AO - Proponents
  are no longer required to provide information to
  the public. Article IV Section 2 of DENR AO 96-37
  that requires proponents to provide information
  to the public on the project is not replicated in
  DENR AO 2003-30. The notice requirements for
  public hearings are not replicated in the new AO.
  

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Some Problematic Areas (cont.)

• Lack of accountability of the preparer and the
  proponents for irregularities in the EIA process
  - New DAO removes requirement of an
  accountability statement from proponents and
  preparers. Under DENR AO 96-37, preparers and
  proponents are required to sign under oath an
  accountability statement. If it turns out that
  they included falsehoods in the EIS, they can be
  liable for perjury. This deterrent is no longer
  available under the new DENR AO 2003-30.

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Some Problematic Areas (cont.)

• Irregularities in the process
• Independence of the process
• Because of systemic problems of the EIA process,
  it has become a very weak process for dispute
  management/resolution

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Lessons

• Notice is fundamental
• notification is not just notification of the
  project but notification of potential risks and
  impacts. Notice should therefore contain a copy
  of the EIS. The EIS is for public dissemination
  and should not be under the control of the
  project proponent.
• All affected parties (direct and indirect) should
  be part of the decision-making process
• Timeframe should be appropriate in relation to
  the distance of the communities affected and with
  due regard to their own community processes, i.e.
  indigenous peoples
• Information should be made available in all
  levels of the DENR (from the national office to
  the CENRO)

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Lessons (cont.)

• Capacities of communities to participate should
  be enhanced. For example, the academe can devote
  resources for a network of independent scientists
  to assist community in assessing EIS.
• Community should be part of decision making
• in the review committee
• Social acceptability is a pre-condition without
  which th ECC should not be issued