A POSITION PAPER

One of the primary concerns of the Municipal Government of Boac has been the conservation and protection of the municipality’s environment and natural resources as well as the management of solid waste. One major issue is the continuing pollution of the Boac River caused by the 1996 Marcopper Mining Disaster, a man-made industrial disaster. Furthermore, the municipality of Boac faces problems in the implementation of environmental ordinances and laws. The problem ranges from disobedience towards the passed laws to the lack of proper planning and mismanagement of personnel assigned to handle the situation.

            It is easy to point out these problems because they have been one of the issues hounding the executive branch of the local government. The challenge is to identify and recognize the problem, and that problem is the lack of a properly-designated department and/or professional individual to handle the difficulties of managing the environment and natural resources of Boac. It is imperative to delegate such a daunting task to one person fulltime, rather than assigning one of the executives in the municipal government who are preoccupied with other functions and are busy solving problems under their respective departments.

            Local governments are given the tasks of implementing environmental laws, especially landmark laws like the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and the Solid Waste Management Act. In the case of Boac, such tasks were given to the Municipal Planning and Development Office and/or Municipal Engineering Office. However, as was mentioned before, the concern of assigning the duties of the MENRO to another office is that the said office is not necessarily shaped for the task and is also preoccupied with other tasks regarding their department.

            In order to implement these laws and any other ordinances that were passed and will be passed relating to managing the environment and natural resources, the Municipality of Boac must create the Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office. This will make sure that there will be a clear authority, responsibility and accountability for implementation of environmental policies, and to institutionalize this authority through the creation of the MENRO that will ensure accountability in management of the environment and our natural resources.