Philippine Earth Day Non-Special: "Government falls short in enforcing environment laws"

I have reasons to believe that the government is sincere in its mission to protect the environment.  However, it cannot sacrifice its economic agenda, which apparently is its top priority, resulting to the overshadowing of environmental efforts.

Much has been done to minimize pollution in the country.  Years ago, the government implemented emissions testing for all vehicles as part of the vehicular registration process.  But the effort falls short due to corruption.  Many registrants bypass the test and merely pay testing centers to issue certificates.  Same thing happens when the vehicle fails the test.

On the country side, particularly in the province of Quezon (east and south of Metro Manila), government officials under the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (DENR) tasked to protect the forests of the Sierra Madre mountain range are alleged to be cohorts in illegal logging activities.

Then there is the issue of mining.  According to a fact-finding mission report, Mining in the Philippines: concerns and Conflicts (Columban Fathers 2007), "as of 2003, there had been at least 16 serious tailings dam failures in the preceding 20 years and over 800 abandoned mine sites have not been cleaned up.  Clean-up costs are estimated in billions of dollars and the damage caused will never be fully reversed."

And then there is the Japan-Philippines Economic partnership Agreement (JPEPA), which faces opposition from diverse sectors mainly the proletariat and environmental activists.  Without ratification of this treaty, one of the worst consequences to be brought in the country is the importation of medical wastes from Japan, rendering the Philippines their garbage dump.  It will also allow Japan to fish within Philippine waters.

Yesterday, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiage said that her committee has made "technical" changes to the agreement.

Laguna Lake is the largest inland aquatic resource in the Philippines and has for centuries supplied the subsistence requirements of people who live along its perimeter.  Aquaculture was developed to meet the growing demand for fish but high density farming slowly deteriorated the water quality.  Industrial development, and lack of regulation therefrom, resulted in the disgorging of waste materials on to the lake.