Final Exams – Environmental Law Class 2013-2014

This is the final exam of the Environmental Law Class of 2013-2014. It is composed of two parts:

Part One: Substantive portion. This is meant to trigger your skill on how to make the laws work to achieve a higher goal of protecting the ‘environment.’ You must answer with the use of straight and correct English.

Part Two: Qualitative portion.This is meant to give you the chance to reflect on what you have learned in class.You may use Filipino

The answers are to be sent to:For San Beda Law Students, envilaw-sanbeda2014@gmail.comThe answers are to be submitted in electronic form. Do not write your name or any identifying mark. Write only your student number on the upper left hand of the first page of exams answers.

The questions that need to be answered have blank spaces. For ease of writing, please encode your answers at the end of the questions in color blue.

Deadline:

March 29, 2014 at 12:00 noon, Philippine Standard Time

Delays will be deducted at one per cent of the final grade per minute of delay. Delays of more than 60 minutes will no longer be accepted. In real court filings, if your pleading is submitted late, it may be rejected and your case may be dismissed outright.

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PART ONE

Land and Forests

The new Secretary of the Department of Environment heard about how you excelled in the Environmental Law Class while in law school. He hires you as his staff assistant.

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He wants to protect the forests and to encourage private landowners to plant trees and vegetables on their land.

1. What is the first thing he needs to do to protect the forests? What is the first thing that you need to know when you buy a piece of land? _______

2. What is an ecological encumbrance (or eco-lien)? ________

a. What is the legal basis to support this? ______b. What is a conservation easement? _________

3. Using the land titling system, how can you use the idea of an eco-lien

to encourage private landowners to keep their lands in vegetative condition sufficient to prevent erosion and adverse effects on the lowland and streams? _____

4. How will you use the real property tax system to encourage people to plant vegetables on their urban lands? _____Why is it important to teach urban dwellers how to plant and grow vegetables? _____

Tip: The answer to this question may be found in the definition of forests in

the Revised Forestry Code (Pres. Decree 705) and in the Chapter on Land in the book The Laws of Nature and Other Stories.

Waters

Marine Waters

During your internship in the SEA Camp in Bantayan Island, you joined an enforcement operation of the legendary Visayan Sea Squadron. In the middle of the night, you join law enforcement personnel and seize a commercial fishing boat fishing in municipal waters without any permit. It also uses explosives to stun the fish, uses heavy metal objects to pound on the corals to scare the fish out of the coral reefs, and also used a very high-powered light to attract the fish.

The boat does not even bear a name and has no fishing license issued by the Bureau of Fisheries. The fish workers in the boat are not registered, and some are even minors.

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Does emission include noise?

Using the Fisheries Code (Rep Act 8550), what are the cases that you can file against the persons involved?

1. Who will be the respondents in the case? Boat Captain? Owner? Who else?

2. What cases will you file against the persons and for violation of what specific provision/s in the Fisheries Code and other related laws?

You file the cases against the culprits, in the arraignment they all plead guilty. The judge pronounces their sentence but puts them on probation so long as they act as fish wardens to protect the seas that they once destroyed. They are ordered to put up marine/fish sanctuaries in the municipal waters of the town where they illegally fished.

The Mayor is present in the hearing. Both the judge and the Mayor ask you if under the Fisheries Code (RA 8550) there is any legal basis to put up fish sanctuaries? _________

What is the purpose of a fish sanctuary? ________ Does the Fisheries Code have an applicable provision? ______

Freshwater

What are rainwater catchment ponds or rain gardens? How can they be the solution to the flooding problem of urban areas?

Air and the Atmosphere:

You live in a quiet neighborhood. One day, a videoke bar was allowed by the Municipal Mayor and the Barangay Captain to operate near your house. The peace and silence of your home is shattered by the customers of the videoke bar. They would blare out their disintunado (and often drunken) singing even up to late at night and until the week hours in the morning. You even hear of reports that a secret cyberporn operation is being conducted behind the curtains of the videoke bar. The drunkenness that goes on in the Bar sometimes result in bar brawls, stabbings, and the presence of shady characters and low-flying women (mabababang lipad) loitering in the streets near your house.

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With your working knowledge of Environmental Law, will you take it all in silence and bear the pain of the noise that disturbs you, your family, and your entire neighborhood?

__ Yes, ___ NoOr will you do something?__ Yes, __ No.

Is this a nuisance? What is a nuisance under the Civil Code? _____

What can and what will you do? _____

What is the duty of the Barangay Captain/Chairman as stated in the Local Government Code? Cite the exact provision (section, paragraph, and the phrase of the pertinent section of the Local Government Code). ______

For allowing this disturbance to go on, can he be held liable for non-performance of his duty under the Rep. Act 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Law?) _____ Cite the exact provision and the phrase of the pertinent section of the Anti-Graft Law? ______

What about the Mayor, what is his duty? ______

Using the Clean Air Act (Rep. Act 8749), can you file a citizen’s suit against the owner/s and/or managers of the videoke bar, the Barangay Captain and the Mayor? What is a citizen’s suit ______?

What is your legal basis? Is noise an emission defined under the Clean Air Act? ________

What provision of the Revised Penal Code can you apply to file a case against those responsible for the noise that goes on even until the wee house of the night?______________

Hearing that you sent a written complaint to the Barangay Captain alleging wrongdoing by the owners of the videoke bar, they hire a team of top criminal lawyers and unleash them at you. The videoke lawyers1 promptly file cases against you for unjust vexation, libel, and damages for one million pesos. (A videoke lawyer is defined as a member of the legal profession who is like a videoke machine. Just plunk in money into its slot, and it will play whatever song you want it to sing, no matter how disintunado.) Will you be one such ‘videoke lawyer’? _________

What provision of the Clean Air Act and the Rules of Procedure for Environmental Cases can you invoke against the lawsuits filed against you?

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Is environmental protection the sole responsibility of the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)? _______What is the exact phrase and provision of the Local Government Code that states the local government’s responsibility to protect the environment? ______________

Someone is open burning their basura beside the road. Is there an applicable provision against the open burning of wastes in the Ecological Solid Waste Management Law? _________

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PART TWO

Qualitative:

1. What is the Environment? Why is it not easily understood nor resonate in the minds and hearts of ordinary people? Is it about the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees? Or is it about ….. ? ______

2. What have your learned from your four months of the Environmental Law class, if any? _______

3. What have you done, both as a member of the class, and in your individual capacity? _________What significance did your actions have? _________

4. Even after your Environmental Law Class, what will you do?______________.

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