This section includes literature review, cited studies and research relating to the topic

“Businesses in Siargao: Their Compliance to Law on Obligation and Contracts in relation to

Environmental Laws”. This will help to familiarize more on what are being discussed on the paper.

I. International

most recent approach views human rights and environmental protection as indivisible and
inseparable and thus posits the right to a safe and healthy environment as an independent
substantive human right. At present, examples of this are found mainly and increasingly in national
law and in regional human rights and environmental treaties. Most formulations of the right to
environment qualify it by words such as “healthy”, “safe”, “secure” or “clean.

There is also a regulatory approach to achieving environmental protection that is not rights-
based. Economic incentives and disincentives, criminal law, and private liability regimes have all
formed part of the framework of international and national environmental law. This emphasis on
responsibilities rather than rights echoes language from the Stockholm Declaration and subsequent
instruments that emphasize the duty of each person to protect and improve the environment for
present and future generations. It is also consistent with human rights instruments that affirm the
duties of each individual to others to promote and observe internationally-guaranteed human rights.

In international law, most human rights treaties were drafted and adopted before environmental
protection became a matter of international concern. As a result, there are few references to
environmental matters in international human rights instruments, although the rights to life and to
health are included and some formulations of the latter right refer to environmental issues. In the
absence of petition procedures in international environmental agreements, cases concerning the
impact of environmental harm on individuals and groups increasingly have been brought to human
rights bodies. The right invoked include the right to life, to health, to culture, to freedom of
association, to a fair hearing, and the right to a remedy. Two regional human rights treaties contain
specific provisions on the right to environment. The approach of each differs, with the African Charter
linking the environment to development, while the American Convention Protocol speaks of a
“healthy environment.”

Human health, as well as being a right contained in human rights instruments, is a constant
theme in environmental agreements, indeed one of the principal aims of environmental protection. A
standard definition of pollution, found in many legal texts, is “the introduction by man, directly or
indirectly, of substance or energy into the [environment] resulting in deleterious effects of such a
nature as to endanger human health, harm living resources....” etc. In addition, procedural human
rights are frequently emphasized in environmental agreements, as states have accepted that these
rights lead to better environmental decision-making and enforcement. Several dozen international
treaties adopted since the Stockholm Conference call upon states to take specific measures to ensure
that the public is adequately informed about environmental risks posed by specific activities. In
addition to the right to information, the public is also given broad rights of participation in decision-
making and access to remedies for environmental harm. The protections afforded have increased in
scope and number since the adoption of Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and
Development.

In sum, the links between human rights, health, and environmental protection are today well-
established in international law, accepted by states in agreements and implemented in practice.
Further attention to the links and to the potential conflicts between the goals of the three subject
areas will be of benefit to all concern.

II. National

Various driving forces, both internationally and locally, have been shaping the implementation of
environmental management in the Philippines over the years. From a simplistic, regulatory stance,
the country is making significant improvements in environmental governance by actively soliciting the
participation of multi-stakeholders and by crafting enabling mechanisms that are supportive of the
sustainable development principles. Intensifying global environmental advocacy and the need to
balance the growing environmental concerns with national development and socioeconomic agenda
were the main factors that influenced this change in perspective. Recent national environmental
mandates aspire to promote the twin goals of sustainable use, management and conservation of the
country’s natural resources vis-à-vis protection and enhancement of the environment.

In keeping with these innovative developments in policy outlook, PNOC-EDC has, likewise,
accomplished considerable enhancement in its corporate environmental management system. To
address the increasing demands of its energy projects and the needs of its project stakeholders, the
company has taken proactive management strategies that ensure a productive and harmonious co-
existence on the ground. As the company matures in the field of environmental management, PNOC
EDC is now evolving as one of the industry leaders in the local environment sector. Some of its
management plans and programs showcasing initiatives in rationalizing sustainable development now
serve as models for other industries. Among those worth mentioning are its practices on self
regulation, public consultations, conflict management, social acceptability, multi-sectoral monitoring,
community based EIA procedures, and social forestry.

This paper presents an overview of the evolution of Philippine environmental legislation

including the recent changes in local environmental compliance and enforcement, and the
institutionalization of environmental management in PNOC-EDC’s operation as a consequence of
these developments and as initiatives to enhance the country’s environmental development. 2.
PHILIPPINE ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES AND LEGISLATIONS

Environmental Administration. In the early years, environmental protection in the Philippines

was not delegated to a single government agency; instead, environment-related concerns were part
of the directives of several agencies dealing with agriculture, natural resources, health, housing and
public works (EMBUNDP Training Manual, 1996). It was only in 1964 when the National Pollution
Control Commission (NPCC) was created to handle air and water pollution control in the country. In
1977, the National Environmental Protection Council (NEPC) was created as the policy-making body
on matters related to environment. In 1986, however, major institutional changes were introduced in
the government structure as a result of a change in political administration. One of these was the
creation of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) in 1987, under the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). The EMB assumed the regulatory functions of both the
NEPC and the NPCC.

International: human rights and the environment summary of paper of professor dinah shelton. 4
april 2002. committee on juridical and political affairs. permanent council of the organization of
american states
National: Proceedings World Geothermal Congress 2005 Antalya, Turkey, 24-29 April 2005. Impacts
of Philippine Environmental Regulatory Policies on PNOC-EDC’s Corporate Environmental
Management Initiatives. Regina Victoria J. Pascual PNOC-Energy Development Corporation, Merritt
Road, Energy Center, Fort Bonifacio, Makati City 1201, Philippines rvjpascual@energy.com.ph