A solemn responsibility

Were the recent oil leaks that damaged the already degraded marine ecosystems in Manila Bay and the mercury spill in the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital accidents beyond anyone’s control? Or, could these have been avoided had we, government and citizens alike, learned to have the foresight to plan and craft measures and collaborate with each other to lessen their effects and consequent devastation and perhaps, commit to a less fossil fuel-dependent way of life?

Spills are lessons learned early on in life. Kids shed tears in their childhood because their playfulness at the dinner table caused water or milk to splatter. They cried not because of the spillage but because of the adult’s varying reactions to the “accident.” While some parents are extremely agitated, others firmly yet gently impart the message that one should be careful and think of the consequences of one’s actions or even omissions.

“Is the hard or the soft approach more effective?” is a question that begs to be answered, not just in shaping the values of our children, but in the equally serious concern about our law’s implementation, and the most important, in molding the character of the citizens of our nation.

Laws are meant to restore order, bring stability and predictability in governance and imbue the strongest sense of responsibility and respect among citizens and officials alike. But, we still have a long way to go to inculcate that dreamed-of reverence for our laws. Without that healthy respect, ecological integrity and peace remain elusive.

We are highly-skilled in mouthing words and putting them in our Philippine Development Plan; words like “sustainability” and “inclusive growth and development,” as if there were no government permits given to indubitably ecologically and socially destructive projects like coal operation, mining and reclamation.

Sadly, the increasing pollution in our waters, air and land from sources both known and unknown still have to merit the urgent action from regulators and enforcers in government and even institutions like the Ombudsman.

In 2008, the Supreme Court took it as a duty to protect our sacred right to a healthy environment and unsheathed the tool called the writ of continuing mandamus in the case of Metro Manila Development Authority vs. Concerned Residents of Manila Bay. It compelled the executive agencies to do their job, clean and restore Manila Bay to its pristine condition. It even required the Department of Education to integrate specific subjects on pollution prevention, waste management, environmental protection and environmental laws into the school curricula.

Five years after the trail-blazing ruling, are positive changes taking place in our ecological panorama?

Local government units are still hard-pressed to comply with the law’s requirement to have plans to serve as road maps and guides to responsible stakeholders’ actions and towards authentic development in their areas. Some local government units prioritize grandiose projects or use technologies that cause more pollution and harm, without even enforcing and implementing environmental laws in their backyard.

Cebu, for example, is the eighth most susceptible province in the Philippines to landslides. Yet, unsustainable projects are being approved by authorities without factoring this alarming fact, the attendant ecological and social inequities, and without the necessary consultation with stakeholders. Have focused and coordinated actions been taken to reforest Cebu and revitalize its various ecosystems and protected areas, at a “wartime speed” and urgently capacitate its constituents to become better stewards and cope with disasters?

Can we afford to read the news about misappropriations of public funds, floods, landslides and consequent displacement now occurring regularly, and not do anything about them? It is a serious error in judgment to believe that our education and the gated communities some live in can spare us from Nature’s wrath.

It is time to be actively involved in decision-making, whether at a local or national level. Universities can and must tap the knowledge, talent and creativity of the youth and expose them to work in our communities. Law schools play a critical role in embedding not just the values of excellence, but of integrity, leadership and service. Law students learn not just from the books and case rulings. Through the law school’s legal aid program, as some law schools are doing, the deeper absorption of life’s lessons is embedded when they share their knowledge and time and feel the injustice inflicted on those without the comprehension and the voice to speak out.

More civil society organizations (CSOs) should apply for accreditation in the local development councils and other special bodies established under the Local Government Code. The Department of Interior and Local Government issued 2013-70 Memorandum Circular dated July 24 on the accreditation and selection of CSO representatives to these special bodies. Politicians must not be allowed to poke their fingers into the accreditation and selection process and destroy the integrity of the CSOs.

Incidents such as spills, leaks and discharges not only cause inconvenience or embarrassment, but they can and do wreak havoc on us and the planet that might just prove to be irreversible.

We do not forget the words of the Nobel Peace Prize awardee, Wangari Maathai, that the people, “rather than their government, ought to be the custodians of the environment.”

This custody is not just a right, it is a solemn responsibility.