New mandate for anti-graft agency

Manila: The anti-graft Office of the Ombudsman has reactivated a unit tasked to go after government workers whose acts cause destruction to nature.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales has named a team of investigators and prosecutors whose task is to go after government officials and individuals accused of violating environmental laws.

The environment protection team was set up in 2004, but had remained inactive.

"Pursuant to our commitment…to address the need to conserve, protect and restore our life support systems through the proper implementation or enforcement of existing environmental laws, there is a need to reconstitute our Environment Team…to be headed by the Environment Ombudsman," Ombudsman Morales said in a memorandum.

The Philippines has witnessed several environmental disasters in recent years. Most of these calamities had been blamed largely on poor enforcement of environmental laws where, in some cases, businessmen or unscrupulous individuals were able to engage in activities with the knowledge of government authorities.

An example is the illegal harvesting of timber in certain areas of Mindanao and Luzon where logging is prohibited under the law.

Several mining accidents have also occurred in recent years across the country because of the haphazard enforcement of environmental laws.