Current Department of Environment and Natural Resource (DENR) secretary, Lito Atienza, announced that “Green” courts will be set up in specific places around the Philippines to specifically handle offenders of the country’s environment laws. Most specifically those who violate Republic Act (RA) No. 9275 or the Philippine Clean Water Act. He said that there are a lot of cases where those who were caught violating this law but only a few reach the country’s courts to get prosecuted.
Sec. Atienza seems to have it bad for those who operate illegal fishpens in the country as the report stated that these “Green” courts will set their eyes on prosecuting these types of offenders. According to a person I know who operates fish cages, it is quite easy to setup fish cages compared to traditional fish ponds in the Philippines. That is because it is not as capital intensive and resource intensive.
For traditional land based fishponds, you will need a lot of money to build and maintain the traditional earthen dike ponds, plus an ample supply of water from the sea in order keep your ponds clean and disease free. If you plan to maximize your ponds by adding more fish, you will need to install paddle wheels which will generate oxygen for the fishponds if the green algae in your pond is not generating enough oxygen. This will mean additional electricity costs. And if those paddle wheels die out in the middle of the night, the oxygen level in the ponds could drop low enough to kill all the fish. For the need of stable electricity, you can’t help but install expensive generators.
Compare that to fish cages. You will just need a permit from the DENR and the Local Government to drop fish cages into the sea. Then a boat to service your fish cages with food and to transfer your catch. Every few years you just need to hire a diver to check the anchors on your cages.
With regards to the competence of the Green Courts, he noted however that the justice system still has to familiarize themselves with this nations environmental laws in order to judge effectively those who violate this nations environmental laws.
I guess this is a good enough plan with a lot of investment coming in which seems to target natural environment use even more. Such as renewable energy from hydro, thermal and wind as well as those who plan to go mining for gold, copper, nickel and coal. This will help to keep them in check. Just because it has “Green” and “Renewable” stamped all over it, doesn’t mean that aren’t any shenanigans happening in the back.
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Category: Law, Environment
