Greening the nation: Constitutionality of the nationwide logging moratorium

• Main Author: Flojo, Joemarie C.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2014
• Subjects: Logging > Law and legislation > Philippines; Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/2800
• Institution: De La Salle University

This paper focuses on the environment, specifically forest trees. In a country and world that favours wealth over the health of the Earth, there is a need to look into the underlying issues that gravely affect how people interact with the natural environment. Executive Order No. 23, otherwise known as the Nationwide Logging Moratorium, is the order President Benigno Aquino III signed into to uphold his stand on preserving the environment. Two corollary issues will be looked into in determining if whether the executive order is constitutional or not if whether there is a violation of due process, specifically of vested rights of community based forest agreement organizations, and if there is a problem with uniformity in the constitution with regards to the balanced and healthful ecology in accordance with the rhythm and harmony of nature when forests may be logged to create plantations, and when more foreign seed species will be used in comparison to the endemic variety. Numerous related literatures will show the benefit of utilising CBFMAs as well as the non-use of it, and literature from different fields of studies that rally against plantations and use of foreign tree species but also those that are for it. In the end, in answering to and justifying why the issues may or may not be constitutional, past cases from the courts of the Philippines will be used.