Schedule
Nov. 28, 2024 | 10:30 AM–12:00 PM
Room
Rm 3, South Ballroom
Moderator
TBA
D3.1
Environment, Justice, and Law: A Case Study of Environmental Legal Cases in the Crucibles of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
Michae Ella A. Digo
Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology
For years, Philippine environmental jurisprudence has become integral in the national pursuit of ecological balance between human development and ecological stewardship. Legal frameworks pushed forward standards for pollution control, sustainable utilization of resources, and conservation initiatives, to empower agencies in implementing and enforcing the provisions, and imposition of accountability mechanisms. However, Philippine Environmental Laws remain a subject of ongoing debate and scrutiny among the public and policymakers. Additionally, it is imperative that the power of these laws does not rest on the legislation itself but the power is in its legal translation onto implementation, execution, and enforcement. The skepticism on whether the Philippines’ environmental laws and its executor are living up to their intended purpose is evident. Thus, this study examined ecological cases that were instituted by the Philippine Supreme Court. The analysis is anchored on the five major environmental laws in the country: RA 9003 Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, RA 9275 Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004, RA 8749 Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999, RA 6969 Toxic Substances, Hazardous and Nuclear Waste Control Act of 1990, and PD 1586 Environmental Impact Statement of 1978. This research substantially identified and assessed convictions, cold, appealed, unresolved, and resolved cases. The methodology of this study involves a comprehensive review assessment of court cases found in the Supreme Court’s online database spanning from 2013 to 2023 where a maximum of 400 cases are found. This research not only contributes to academic discourse but also holds practical implications and valuable insights for policymakers, legal practitioners, and Filipino environmental advocates. Moreover, this study provides the backbone for legal reforms, environmental governance, and the promotion of environmental justice in the country.
D3.2
Negative Impacts of Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation (DRR-CCA) to the Local Communities and Natural Environment
Jake Rom D. Cadag
University of the Philippines Diliman
The objective of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation (DRR-CCA) is to mitigate or avoid exposure to hazards, reduce vulnerabilities, and enhance capacities. In the Philippines, however, the short-term and long-term outcomes of many DRR-CCA programs have led to increased exposure of communities to hazards, heightened vulnerabilities, and constraints on local capacities. Consequently, these programs have resulted in adverse impacts on human communities, flora and fauna, and their natural habitats, thereby affecting societies and the natural environment. Rather than diminishing disaster risk, DRR-CCA efforts have inadvertently exacerbated it. This raises a critical question: what has happened to the “do no harm” principle? This paper examines the negative impacts of DRR-CCA initiatives in the Philippines and broadens the discussion to the larger issue of disaster risk creation.
D3.3
Measuring the Employment Impact and Workers’ Perceptions of a National Single-Use Plastic Ban
Benjamin B. Velasco
University of the Philippines Diliman
In the Philippines, bans on the use of plastic bags have been enacted in more than 300 cities and towns as a means of stemming waste while proposed legislation for a nationwide prohibition has been pending for several years. The national single-use plastic (SUP) ban is a significant step forward in mitigating plastic pollution and climate change, but will have economic and employment impacts on firms and workers. The study fills in a gap by estimating the employment impact of a national ban using firm-level data from official government surveys. Further, it explores the workers’ perceptions of a ban through interviews with unionists in SUP factories. The study finds the employment impact to be significant as 32,000 workers in almost 500 SUP firms will be directly affected and at another 9,000 workers in the midstream plastic industry will be indirectly impacted. Workers have a range of opinions regarding a proposed ban—from opposition because of the expected mass layoffs to acceptance as a necessary solution to plastic pollution. However, agreement to a SUP ban is predicated on the existence of alternative employment for affected workers. The study reveals that workers are receptive to a message that integrates both environmental concerns and labor standards. However, there is an utter lack of information dissemination from plastic firms and government agencies about the proposed SUP ban and the necessary adaptation measures to prepare workers for a transition.
D3.4
Addressing the Inequities of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Law in the Philippines: Vital Policy Redirection
Michael Anthony C. Santos
Kabang Kalikasan ng Pilipinas (WWF Philippines)
We have gone beyond merely talking about the possibilities of human induced climate change and the throw-away culture of our consumerist driven mentality. We were the generation that talked about the effects of actions to future generations but we have absorbed its full brunt during our lifetime. The Philippines’ Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Law was set to address our plastics waste management concerns. It has mandated and obliged enterprises to deal with their own plastic packaging and set recovery targets until it reaches a plateau of 80% in 2028. The present interrelated studies of WWF Philippines’ EPR Project, directly addresses the resulting displacement of the informal waste sector, especially the waste workers or mangangalakal and the Local Government Units (LGUs) in playing an active role in its implementation.
Based on the graduation approach framework and LGUs consultations, the current direction of the studies directly point to the steep decrease of plastic rates when EPR was implemented and its effect in pulling the waste workers well below the poverty rate. Municipalities and cities, more than just being mere recipients of EPR programs, should play a real and active role in the law’s implementation. The policy recommendations should address the following: plummeting rate of plastic wastes; full accounting of the price range in the life cycle of plastics; setting a nationwide standard rate for plastics exchange; a nationwide mandate for all LGUs to have their own ENROs to sustainably implement nationally mandated environmental policies; and, lastly, to unhinge EPR practice from being outrightly business-driven and reground to the original spirit of the law—to unburden the LGUs in their SWM expenses and to engender a polluter’s pay principle.
D3.5
Mapping Transnational Pathways in the Second-Hand Clothing Exchange and Informal Economies in Filipino Communities in the Diaspora and the Philippines
Jan Ezra O. Undag
City University of New York
This study explores the transnational pathways in second-hand clothing exchange and informal economies, examining perceptions and lived experiences with the global and domestic trade and materiality of used clothes, waste policies, and waste colonialism—referring to waste export practices from wealthier to poorer countries—affecting diasporic Filipinos in New York and homeland Filipinos in the Philippines. Data was collected through a mixed research design, staging second-hand clothes exchanges and conducting semi-structured qualitative interviews in Little Manila, Queens, home to the Filipino diaspora in New York City; in Tramo, Santa Lucia, a working-class neighborhood in Pasig City, Philippines; and with second-hand clothes merchants in Baguio City, known as the ukay-ukay (second-hand market) capital of the Philippines. Furthermore, samples of second-hand clothes in Little Manila and Tramo, Santa Lucia were characterized by brand attribution, manufacturing origin, and material content. The analysis highlights altruistic, economic, and environmental motivations in the disposal and reuse of second-hand clothes, but these are delineated by generational, transnational, and socio-economic differences. Moreover, the characterization of second-hand clothes and captured mixed media reveal contradictions to the perceived better quality of imported clothes and highlight complex economic motivations shaped by waste colonialism and waste policies. The findings suggest that the second-hand clothing exchange within and across Filipino communities in the diaspora and the Philippines creates an effective space for developing critical consciousness towards consumerism, waste colonialism, and corporate and state accountability.