2007 AECEN Regional Forum:
Public Participation in Environmental Compliance and
Enforcement in Asia
 Shangri-La Hotel, Beijing
 People's Republic of China
 December 13-15, 2007
 STRENGTHENING GREEN BENCHES AND
 JUDICIAL CAPACITY IN THE PHILIPPINES
 Justice Portia Aliño-Hormachuelos
 Court of Appeals, Manila
 Philippines
I
. The Philippine Legal System and
The Role of the Judiciary
JUDICIAL
 The Philippines’ legal system is characterized by the separation
of powers among three co-equal branches of the government –
the executive branch headed by the President, the legislative
branch composed of the bicameral Senate and House of
Representatives, and the judiciary.
The Judiciary
 Judicial power is vested in one Supreme Court and
the lower courts established by law.* The Supreme
Court is at the apex of a 4-tierred court system
composed of one Supreme Court, the Court of
Appeals and 2 special appellate courts; the
Regional Trial Courts; and the Metropolitan/
Municipal Trial Courts.

* Philippine Constitution, Art VIII sec. 1
The courts’ actions in adjudicating
environmental cases are necessarily taken within
the framework of the Constitution, which in its
Declaration of Principles gave preeminence to the
environment thru this pronouncement:


“The State shall protect and advance the right of the
people to a balanced and healthful ecology in accord with
the rhythm and harmony of nature.”'
– Philippine Constitution Art. II, Section 12.
 Our Supreme Court has affirmed the enforeability of this
legal right in the landmark case of Oposa v. Factoran.
 G.R. No. 101083, July 30, 1993, 224 SCRA 792 (1993).
III. Strengthening Judicial Capacity in
Environmental
Adjudication: The Philippine Judicial
Academy
 (PHILJA)
 To ensure judicial competence and efficiency,
the Philippine Judicial Academy (PHILJA for
short), a component of the Supreme Court, was
created in 1998 under Republic Act 8557 to
serve as the judiciary's education arm. PHILJA
was institutionalized as a training school for
justices, judges, lawyers and aspirants to
judicial posts.

PHILJA's training programs include Orientation
Programs for New Judges where they are given an
Introduction to Environmental Law. The others are the
Specialized Trainings which are usually multi-sectoral
in approach, to include prosecutors, DENR and DA
officials and personnel, environmental science
experts, and non-government organizations.
 In 2003, with the help of its development partners
such as the AECEN, UNEP and APJA, PHILJA
conducted the Judges Forum on Environmental
Protection where discussions on how to improve
access to environmental justice were undertaken.
 The PHILJA programs culminated in the publication
of an Environmental Law Training Manual in 2006 and
before that, an interactive training tool and manual
entitled Greening the Judiciary. Both manuals have
been distributed to judges for their guidance. Both
projects were supported by the USAID, the US-AEP,
and the Asia Foundation.
 As part of capacity building, Justices and Judges were
sent to international fora such as the Asian Justices
Forum on the Environment sponsored by US-Asia
Environmental Partnership (US-AEP) held in Bangkok,
Thailand on November 18-19, 2003, and the Asian
Justices Workshop on the Environment in April 2006,
also held in Bangkok.
 On May 10-11, 2007 PHILJA in coordination with the
Department of Justice, together with the development
partners USAID, AECEN and Wildlife Alliance
conducted a Judiciary Workshop on Wildlife Crime
and Protection.
 On July 5 and 6, 2007 the Supreme Court of the
Philippines and PHILJA in partnership with the
(USAID),(AECEN),(UNEP),(USEPA) attended by Chief
Justices, Justices, Judges, and officials of
environmental agencies in Australia, India, Indonesia,
the Philippines, Shri Lanka, Thailand and the United
States, as well as key personalities from the academe
and public interest groups in the Philippines.
IV. Greening the Judiciary
 On July 21, 2006, PHILJA held a round-table
discussion of green benches with the
assistance of AECEN, USAID, the UNEP and
Haribon Foundation for the Conservation of
Natural Resources. It was an off-shoot of the
Asian Justices Workshop on the Environment
held in Bangkok in April, 2006.
 OPTIONS:
1. To designate special courts to hear environmental
cases.
2. To expand the jurisdiction of the already designated
forestry courts to cover all environmental cases.
3. To designate special divisions in the Court of Appeals
to handle environmental cases.
The foregoing options/proposals are currently
undergoing meticulous study.
 DATABASE:
To guide the Supreme Court in locating designated green
benches, PHILJA with the assistance of the Office of the
Court Administrator of the Supreme Court, conducted
data inventory and assessment. Data from years 2000
to 2004 showed that 1,678 environmental cases were
filed in the trial courts. As of November 2006, there
were a total number of 901 environmental cases
pending nationwide in the trial courts, while 74 special
cases for certiorari, prohibition or mandamus
involving the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources (DENR) were filed in the Court of Appeals for
the 6-year period from November 2001 to June 2007.
Conclusion:
PHILJA with the help of its development partners the
AECEN among them, has done a commendable job in
strengthening judicial capacity in the Philippines.
However, given the limited reach of the courts as shown by
the low number of cases serviced by them as well as the
very few legislations addressed by the lawsuits that have
reached them, it seems clear that judicial education and
capacity building for the judiciary is not enough.
 There is a need to enlarge the reach of the justice
system by increasing the capacity of its other pillars
especially in the field of law enforcement and
prosecution. Most of all, public participation and
commitment
in
environmental
protection
and
preservation must be enhanced through the
liberalization of litigation rules which is always an
issue in judicial fora. Related issues are those on
standing to sue, class suits, accrual of cause of action,
burden of evidence, custody and handling of bulky or
perishable evidence, and court docket congestion.
These issues crop up at every judges' forum, including
international, and should be settled always with a view
to address the transcendental need for the survival of
our world and its preservation for present and future
generations.