A Legal Arsenal for the Philippine Environment
A Little Better Than We Found It
The Earth has existed for ever four billion years, during which time a variety of plant and
animal life has thrived on its surface. Man began to walk the Earth only a million years
ago. But in that brief period, a fraction of the Earth’s existence, man has managed to
strip it of its resources and to poison its air and waters. Rampaging floods, raging
forest fires, changing climates, and vanishing lives, these are but a few of the fruits of
man’s disregard for Nature.
Yet all is not lost. As the only creature capable of written law, our hope lies, in part, in the
law. Here is where the book makes a contribution. As a law book, this Legal Arsenal for
the Philippine Environment is quite unique.
The Earth has existed for ever four billion years, during which time a variety of plant and
animal life has thrived on its surface. Man began to walk the Earth only a million years
ago. But in that brief period, a fraction of the Earth’s existence, man has managed to
strip it of its resources and to poison its air and waters. Rampaging floods, raging
forest fires, changing climates, and vanishing lives, these are but a few of the fruits of
man’s disregard for Nature.
Yet all is not lost. As the only creature capable of written law, our hope lies, in part, in the
law. Here is where the book makes a contribution. As a law book, this Legal Arsenal for
the Philippine Environment is quite unique.
Aside from its being very comprehensive, it is probably the only law book in the world with pictures, thus making it
more reader-friendly. In fact, even the legal decisions are told in the form of a story.
This book is not simply a work of love – it a work of passion, and its author a truly passionate man who
wholeheartedly believe that the environment must be preserved for future generations. His commitment to the
environment has taken him as far as the Philippine Supreme Court. There, his advocacy for the right of the
children and of future generations to sue the government to protect the environment has led to the Supreme Court’
s ground-breaking ruling on inter-generational responsibility.
That same commitment has produced this book, the fruit of more than 17 years of legal research and the rough-
and-tumble practice of environmental advocacy. This rich experience provides a wealth of information and insights
that give pointers on how to make the law work a little bit more for the environment. It is now delivered into the
hands of the ordinary citizen. Somehow, this gives a new meaning to the phrase “taking the law into one’s own
hands.”
This book is therefore, a tool for empowerment to give to ordinary citizens the means to protect and defend the
environment through legal means. Chapter 9, for example, presents sample forms which any person can use as
template to write formal letters to government officials to bring to their attention an environmental complaint
thereby setting the legal process in motion. Enforcement operatives may also benefit from the innovative
techniques and remedies there suggested.
Lastly on behalf of the Court, I thank Tony Oposa for his generosity. While others would simply give a book or two,
he gave his whole manuscript to the Supreme Court, with permission to print as many copies as we wish for
distribution to all the judges in the country. I understand a similar permission was given to the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources. By doing so, perhaps he seeks to emulate the generosity of Nature.
Now, with this legal tool in their hands, citizens, government officials, lawyers and students of Nature will be better
able to protect and defend the environment with more determination and vigor. Only when the spirit of the law is
internalized by everyone can we reverse the present path of human folly. Only when all of us do our part in taking
care of our natural world can we leave the Earth a little better than we found it.
- HILARIO G. DAVIDE JR.
Former Chief Justice, Supreme Court of the Philippines
more reader-friendly. In fact, even the legal decisions are told in the form of a story.
This book is not simply a work of love – it a work of passion, and its author a truly passionate man who
wholeheartedly believe that the environment must be preserved for future generations. His commitment to the
environment has taken him as far as the Philippine Supreme Court. There, his advocacy for the right of the
children and of future generations to sue the government to protect the environment has led to the Supreme Court’
s ground-breaking ruling on inter-generational responsibility.
That same commitment has produced this book, the fruit of more than 17 years of legal research and the rough-
and-tumble practice of environmental advocacy. This rich experience provides a wealth of information and insights
that give pointers on how to make the law work a little bit more for the environment. It is now delivered into the
hands of the ordinary citizen. Somehow, this gives a new meaning to the phrase “taking the law into one’s own
hands.”
This book is therefore, a tool for empowerment to give to ordinary citizens the means to protect and defend the
environment through legal means. Chapter 9, for example, presents sample forms which any person can use as
template to write formal letters to government officials to bring to their attention an environmental complaint
thereby setting the legal process in motion. Enforcement operatives may also benefit from the innovative
techniques and remedies there suggested.
Lastly on behalf of the Court, I thank Tony Oposa for his generosity. While others would simply give a book or two,
he gave his whole manuscript to the Supreme Court, with permission to print as many copies as we wish for
distribution to all the judges in the country. I understand a similar permission was given to the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources. By doing so, perhaps he seeks to emulate the generosity of Nature.
Now, with this legal tool in their hands, citizens, government officials, lawyers and students of Nature will be better
able to protect and defend the environment with more determination and vigor. Only when the spirit of the law is
internalized by everyone can we reverse the present path of human folly. Only when all of us do our part in taking
care of our natural world can we leave the Earth a little better than we found it.
- HILARIO G. DAVIDE JR.
Former Chief Justice, Supreme Court of the Philippines
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F O R E W O R D
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