CA grants Writ of Kalikasan versus embattled Baguio lawmaker

BAGUIO CITY The Special 5 th Division of the Court of Appeals (CA) recently granted the
privilege of Writ of Kalikasan and continuing mandamus filed by environmentalists led by
Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president and Lingayen-Dagupan
Archbishop Socrates Villegas and Baguio Bishop Carlito J. Cenzon against Rep. Nicasio M.
Aliping, Jr., concerned government agencies and local governments relative to the
destructive activities in portions of the Mount Sto. Tomas forest reservation in Tuba, Benguet.
In 54-page decision promulgated on May 8, 2015, Associate Justices Ramon Cruz, Hakim
Abdulwahid and Romeo Barza were unanimous in making the temporary environment
protection order (TEPO) earlier issued against Aliping, the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources (DENR) and the Tuba municipal government permanent.
The CA ordered Aliping and all persons acting in his behalf to cease and desist from
performing acts to develop or enhance the property he is claiming located within the forest
reservation and that such acts shall include but not limited to bulldozing, leveling or any
earthmoving activity, improving the old building standing on the land, building any structure
thereon, continuing with the road opening activities, and concreting any part of the road.
Further, Aliping was ordered by the appellate court to mitigate the soil erosion caused by his
earth-moving activities leading to the siltation of the Amliang Dams 1, 2A, 2B and 3 utilized by
the Baguio Water District (BWD).
Aliping was also directed to rehabilitate the portions of the forest reserve which have been
destroyed by the road-opening activity, more particularly that 2-kilometer stretch which starts
from his claimed property down to the river at the bottom of the mountain by conducting
massive planting of trees.
COUNTRY HOME! This property of Baguio Representative Nicasio M. Aliping located within the 3,000-hectare Mount
Sto. Tomas forest reservation was inspected by members of the Special 5th Division of the Court of Appeals on Tuesday,
February 17, 2015 to evaluate the compliance of the Congressman and other respondents to the Temporary Environment
Protection Order (TEPO) Issued against them by the Supreme Court. JOSEPH MANZANO

On the other hand, Tuba Mayor Florencio Bentres was ordered to cease and desist from
issuing any and all kinds of permits to conduct activities within the Mount Santo Tomas Forest
Reserve, including but not limited to the operation of businesses therein and utilizing any
area for filming movies and television shows, without clearance from the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and to cancel the permits already issued.
Moreover, Bentres was directed by the CA to instruct the Municipal Engineer to cease and
desist from issuing building permits within the Mount Santo Tomas Forest Reserve without
clearance from the DENR.
The CA mandated the Tuba municipal government to come up with the necessary ordinance
outlawing the issuance of tax declarations over portions of the Mount Santo Tomas Forest
Reserve, and prohibiting the alienation of portions of the same.

The appellate court mandated the Tuba municipal government to coordinate with the DENRCAR, PENRO, CENRO and other government agencies in guarding the forest reserve
against further cutting of trees, illegal excavation and other forms of earth-moving activities,
illegal mining, construction of houses and other buildings, and expansion of vegetable
gardens and incorporate the conservation of the Mount Santo Tomas Forest Reserve in its
Environmental Code, or if there be none, for Respondent Municipal Mayor to immediately
take steps to pass such a code.
Subsequently, the CA ordered Tuba Municipal Assessor Prudencio Pinkisan is ordered to
permanently cease and desist from accepting applications for issuance of tax declarations
over lands within the Mount Santo Tomas Forest Reserve; from processing applications
which have already been filed; and from issuing tax declarations which have already been
processed and approved.
Read: DENR order to kill Tubas robust tourism industry
For the national, regional, provincial offices of the DENR and Environmental Management
bureau (EMB) the CA issued an order through their respective heads to perform their
mandate under the laws, and to take short term and long term measures to conserve
whatever remains of the Mount Santo Tomas Forest Reserve, including but not limited to the
establishment of the perimeter of the forest reserve, by pointing on the physical metes and
bounds pursuant to Proclamation No. 581; by deploying personnel to guard against further
cutting of trees, illegal excavation and other forms of earth-moving activities, illegal mining,
construction of houses and other buildings, and expansion of vegetable gardens; prosecute
the violators of environmental laws within the Mount Santo Tomas Forest Reserve, including,
but not limited to, the illegal miners, illegal loggers and illegal settlers therein; make an
assessment of the physical condition and ecological status of the Mount Santo Tomas Forest
Reserve.
In addition, the CA also instructed the DENR to come up with a comprehensive plan to
mitigate the pollution/contamination of the springs and the river system resulting from the
erosion by earth-moving activities, illegal logging, agricultural and human settlement activities
and other anthropogenic activities; to initiate the necessary actions to investigate the
issuances of tax declaration covering areas within the Mount Santo Tomas Forest Reserve
and take necessary steps for the nullification of illegally issued tax declarations; to monitor
the compliance with the environmental laws, rules and regulations, and implement corporate
environmental accountability, of all licenses and permittees within the Mount Santo Tomas
Forest Reserve, including the relay stations and communication towers; to formulate longterm conservation and management plan for Mount Santo Tomas Forest Reserve to be
maintained as a major fresh water source in Baguio and Benguet.
At the same time, the CA directed Tuba Municipal Police Chief William Willie is ordered to
enforce environmental laws which include the apprehension of violators of forest laws, mining
laws and other environmental laws.
Environment Secretary Ramon Paje was made accountable by the CA in making sure that
the DENR and its attached agencies will strictly adhere to the decision.

Lastly, the CA directed all concerned heads of agencies covered by the decision to submit to
the appellate report to the appellate court on the progress of their mandated activities
pursuant to the decision that will take effect within 15 days from receipt of all parties.
It can be recalled that the filing of the Writ of Kalikasan was triggered by the damage inflicted
by Aliping to the Mount Sto. Tomas reservation, particularly the improvements within his
claimed property, that resulted to the falling of some 761 assorted trees and saplings and the
subsequent shutting down of the three Amlaing springs serving as one of the major sources
of potable water for some 30 percent of the citys residents and nearby Tuba town.
This victory is not for me but for all those who expressed concern about the welfare of our
marine mammals, he said.
Vince Cinches of Greenpeace , who said the court should consider that nature has a legal
right, welcomed the decision: This a good reason to celebrate Earth Day.
Marine biologist Lemuel Aragones, who added his expert voice in the controversy in 2008,
said the drilling affected the surface behavior of the population of cetaceans, which refers to
species that include dolphins, porpoises and toothed whales, in the Taon Strait.
The court case was labeled Resident Marine Mammals of the Protected Seascape Taon
Strait, et al. vs. Secretary Angelo Reyes et. al.
Named respondents were former Energy secretary Angelo Reyes, former Environment
secretary Jose Atienza, former Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap, Leonardo Sibbaluca of
DENR 7, and Japex, represented by its Philippine agent, Supply Oilfield Services.
Climate, forests, and peoples
Protecting community and indigenous tenure over forests has enormous potential to preserve
healthy forests and prevent deforestation
How do you solve a wicked problem like climate change? The truth is that no single country
or approach can succeed in overcoming this most serious of sustainable development
challenges.
Strong commitments at the global level must be combined with local actions to reducing
greenhouse gas emissions and bringing warming down to a 2 degree Celsius scenario, as
urged by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Thankfully, many emerging solutions are integrated with sustainable development, so that
confronting climate change is coupled with stimulating economic growth in the developing
world. One such proposition involves strengthening the rights of indigenous and local
communities over their forests.
Last week, on July 24, the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Rights and Resources
Initiative (RRI), both of whom are partners of the Ateneo School of Government, released a
report presenting compelling new research on the relationship between strengthening

community forest rights and climate change mitigation. The report, titled Securing Rights,
Combating Climate Change, sheds light on an approach to reducing greenhouse gas
emissions that has so far been largely undervalued. It makes a strong case that protecting
community and indigenous tenure over forests has enormous potential to preserve healthy
forests and prevent deforestation.
Deforestation and forest degradation play a substantial role in climate change. In addition to
destroying ecosystems and threatening biodiversity, deforestation accounts for 11% of annual
global greenhouse gas emissions. This destruction is happening at a rate of 50 soccer fields
a minute, with 13 million hectares of forests cleared each year around the world. There is
thus a growing consensus among the global climate community on the importance of forest
conservation as a mechanism for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating climate
change.
What role, then, can communities play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from
deforestation? Globally, communities have legal or official rights to 513 million hectares of
forest, making up 1/8 of the worlds forests. These community forests contain about 37.7
billion tons of carbon, 29 times more than the annual carbon footprint of all passenger
vehicles in the world. Still even larger areas of forest are held by communities under
customary tenure systems that are not recognized by governments, or only weakly so.
This constitutes a significant volume of global forests in which legal rights and recognition for
community customary tenure can help maintain and protect healthy forests, ensuring their
role as carbon sinks. Forest communities already have a strong interest in protecting forest
health as they depend on the forest for their food, livelihoods, and culture. Strengthening their
forest rights is therefore a promising policy tool to reduce deforestation and degradation.
Securing Rights, Combating Climate Change finds a compelling link between strong legal
rights for forest communities, government actions to protect and support those rights and
lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emission from deforestation. Examining community forest rights
in 14 forest-rich countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, the report reveals that
deforestation in community forests with strong legal recognition and government protection
are dramatically lower than in forests outside these areas. For example, in the Brazilian
Amazon, the most carbon-rich forest in the world, deforestation was 11 times lower in
community forests with strong legal recognition and government protection than in other parts
of the Brazilian Amazon.

Cover of the "Securing Rights, Combating Climate Change" report. Image courtesy World
Resources Institute
However, governments in low- and middle-income countries often face pressures to issue
mining, hydrocarbon, agricultural, and logging concessions, leading to deforestation that
destroys communities livelihoods and homes. This is a significant problem in Papua New
Guinea, where communities own almost all forests, but the government still issues leases to
private investors, giving them the freedom to engage in deforestation and forest degradation.
So far, the government has leased out about 4 million hectares of forest, which could release
almost 3 billion tons of CO2 if converted to palm oil plantations as planned.
In Indonesia, where only one million out of 42 million hectares of community forest is legally
recognized, the government also gives out vast concessions over forest land to be used for
palm oil, timber, and other conflicting land uses. As the second largest global emitter of CO 2
from deforestation and other land uses, strengthening forest community rights is an approach
that the Indonesian government can embrace that would benefit forest communities while
also generating substantial reductions in the countrys greenhouse gas emissions.
Based on these and other findings, the report persuasively argues that governments should
recognize community forest rights to meet climate goals, safeguard forests, and protect the
livelihoods of their citizens. In addition to granting legal recognition for indigenous and local
community forests, governments should enforce the rights granted to these societies by
preventing trespassing and illegal forest use, and provide technical assistance and training to
build local capacity for sustainable forest management. It would also be beneficial for
governments to set aside funds to compensate local communities for their sustainable forest
management practices, thus creating further economic incentives for safeguarding forests.
Forest communities represent a vast potential for national governments to make headway in
countering climate change. For too long that potential has gone underappreciated and
undervalued.
Incidentally, although not include in the report, Securing Rights, Combating Climate Change
is also relevant in the Philippines where we have shifted forest policy from one focusing on
commercial utilization to emphasizing indigenous peoples rights and community based forest
management. The National Greening Program, where the government is investing billions to
regenerate our forest, can be informed by the findings and recommendations of the report.
Climate change is a formidable problem but solutions are possible. An approach that
combines climate and forest objectives, while respecting and promoting community rights, is
one that will make a difference. Rappler.com