An overview and simplified version of the requirements, processes and procedures of the Philippine EIA System that is necessary for LGUs to know so that they can either participate or contract out the preparation of required EIA reports is covered under this LGU PPP manual. The full detail of the processes and procedures of the Philippine EIA System is provided in the "Revised Procedural Manual (DENR Administrative Order No. 30 Series of 2003-Implementing Rules and Regulations of Presidential Decree no. 1586, Establishing the Philippine Environmental Impact statement System)" published by the Environmental Management Bureau in August 2007.
New rules and regulations to this procedural manual are provided in EMB's Memorandum Circular no. 2010-14 "Standardization of Requirements and Enhancement of Public Participation in the Streamlined Implementation of the Philippines EIS System." This MC, in particular, introduced four new changes in the EIA System: 1) revised and much simplified documentary requirement; 2) Certificate of Non Coverage (CNC) application is no longer required to submit a Project Description Report (PDR); 3) conduct of scoping session with stakeholders; 4) greater participation of LGUs in the EIA process; and 5) significantly shortened time period for the processing EIS and IEE documents submitted for the acquisition of Environmental Clearance Certificate (ECC). The latest MC issued by EMB is on "Incorporating Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) concerns in the Philippine EIS System (MC 2011-05)." It is under this MC that the preparation of IEE Report is no longer required. Instead, the proponents will just need to fill-out and prepare their IEE checklist report using the prescribed checklist template provided by EMB. Moreover, it provides a revised list of criteria/limits/thresholds for classifying projects into those which would require the submission of EIA, IEE or CNC.
The requirements, process and procedures provided in this manual are applicable to proposed new LGU PPP projects. Hence, only the guidelines, rules and regulations of the Philippine EIA that pertain to proposed new projects are adopted in this manual. The applicable safeguard policies and tools of international lending institutions are also considered in the guidelines. Pursuant to these requirements, the LGUs may adopt measures to ensure compliance by their contractors by including environmental and social impacts provisions in their PPP contract.
Aside from complying with the requirements of the Philippine EIA laws, as a proponent of PPP projects the LGUs should be aware that they also have inherent responsibilities under the EIA law to perform the following tasks:
a. Screening of proposed project for issuance of location clearance;
b. Conduct IEC to inform the public about the proposed project;
c. Participate in the scoping of issues that may be brought about by the project;
d. Conduct public consultation and hearing with the DENR on the issues and acceptability of the proposed project;
e. Mediate or facilitate the resolution of conflicts; and
f. Conduct project monitoring to ensure compliance of the project with ECC conditions,