Você está na página 1de 2

LAGUNA LAKE DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY vs COURT 

OF APPEALS (Romero[1], 1994)
LAGUNA LAKE DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY vs COURT OF APPEALS (Romero[1], 1994)
FACTS
 The residents of Tala Estate, Barangay Camarin, Caloocan City raised a complaint with the Laguna Lake Development
Authority (LLDA), seeking to stop the operation of the City Government of Caloocan of an 8.6 hectare open garbage dumpsite in
Tala Estate, due to its harmful effects on the health of the residents and the pollution of the surrounding water.
 LLDA discovered that the City Government of Caloocan has been maintaining the open dumpsite at the Camarin Area without a
requisite Environmental Compliance Certificate from the Environmental Management Bureau of the DENR. They also found the
water to have been directly contaminated by the operation of the dumpsite.
 LLDA issued a Cease and Desist Order against the City Government and other entities to completely halt, stop and desist from
dumping any form or kind of garbage and other waste matter on the Camarin dumpsite.
 The City Government went to the Regional Trial Court of Caloocan City to file an action for the declaration of nullity of the cease
and desist order and sought to be declared as the sole authority empowered to promote the health and safety and enhance the
right of the people in Caloocan City to a balanced ecology within its territorial jurisdiction.
 LLDA sought to dismiss the complaint, invoking the Pollution Control Law that the review of cease and desist orders of that
nature falls under the Court of Appeals and not the RTC.
 RTC denied LLDA’s motion to dismiss, and issued a writ of preliminary injunction enjoining LLDA from enforcing the cease and
desist order during the pendency of the case.
 The Court of Appeals promulgated a decision that ruled that the LLDA has no power and authority to issue a cease and desist
order enjoining the dumping of garbage.
 The residents seek a review of the decision.
ISSUE
WoN the LLDA has authority and power to issue an order which, in its nature and effect was injunctive.
THEORY OF THE PARTIES
City Government of Caloocan: As a local government unit, pursuant to the general welfare provision of the Local Government
Code, they have the mandate to operate a dumpsite and determine the effects to the ecological balance over its territorial
jurisdiction.
LLDA: As an administrative agency which was granted regulatory and adjudicatory powers and functions by RA No. 4850, it is
invested with the power and authority to issue a cease and desist order pursuant to various provisions in EO No. 927.
RULING
YES.
1. LLDA is mandated by law to manage the environment, preserve the quality of human life and ecological systems and prevent
undue ecological disturbances, deterioration and pollution in the Laguna Lake area and surrounding provinces and cities,
including Caloocan.
 While pollution cases are generally under the Pollution Adjudication Board under the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources, it does not preclude mandate from special laws that provide another forum.
 In this case, RA No. 4850 provides that mandate to the LLDA. It is mandated to pass upon or approve or disapprove plans and
programs of local government offices and agencies within the region and their underlying environmental/ecological
repercussions.
 The DENR even recognized the primary jurisdiction of the LLDA over the case when the DENR acted as intermediary at a
meeting among the representatives of the city government, LLDA and the residents.

2. LLDA has the authority to issue the cease and desist order.
a. Explicit in the law.
 §4, par. (3) explicitly authorizes the LLDA to make whatever order may be necessary in the exercise of its jurisdiction.
 While LLDA was not expressly conferred the power “to issue an ex-parte cease and desist order” in that language, the provision
granting authority to “make (…) orders requiring the discontinuance of pollution”, has the same effect.

b. Necessarily implied powers.


 Assuming arguendo that the cease and desist order” was not expressly conferred by law, there is jurisprudence enough to the
effect.
 While it is a fundamental rule that an administrative agency has only such power as expressly granted to it by law, it is likewise a
settled rule that an administrative agency has also such powers as are necessarily implied in the exercise of its express
powers. Otherwise, it will be reduced to a “toothless” paper agency.
 In Pollution Adjudication Board vs Court of Appeals, the Court ruled that the PAB has the power to issue an ex-parte cease and
desist order on prima facie evidence of an establishment exceeding the allowable standards set by the anti-pollution laws of the
country.
 LLDA has been vested with sufficiently broad powers in the regulation of the projects within the LagunaLake region, and this
includes the implementation of relevant anti-pollution laws in the area.

Você também pode gostar