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Justice Puno's Call for Charter Change
Former Chief Justice Reynato Puno's call for renewed debate for constitutional amendment was disappointing. Justice Puno made his call during the inaugural lecture of the UP College of Law's Centennial Lecture Series. However, he cited no new reasons for the debate and there was an unsettling JDV-esque ring to his entire lecture. Many of these grounds he cited as reasons for change have already been examined and debunked by scholars . One recycled argument--legislative gridlock is presently being addressed by the Aquino administration by holding a Cabinet workshop to identify priority bills that will be presented to the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council. These steps are being taken precisely to address potential gridlock. I expected more from the first lecture that starts the UP College of Law's centennial lecture series. I thought it should have been a scholarly forum that examines important legal issues and not a venue for political posturing.
Alternative to Oposa
I do not mean to suggest that the Philippine Supreme Court has abandoned the environment. Sometimes the solutions to our problems need not be remedies that straddle generations or excite international attention. There is still one alternative that the Supreme Court has preserved: local governments. Local governments in the Philippines are not all allies of the environment. Too many local officials equate economic development with large-scale resource extraction activities such as mining and logging. But when cases reach the Supreme Court, the Court has been remarkably supportive of local governments and community efforts to protect the environment. Two decisions of the Court come to mind. The first is Tano v Socrates (G.R. No. 110249, August 21, 1997). In that case the Supreme Court upheld the power of the local governments to enact laws to protect the environment pursuant to the general welfare clause of the Local Government Code of 1991. The Court pointed out that the Code seeks “to...
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