Last of two parts
WHEN the Supreme Court of the Philippines was designated by the United Nations Environment Program to lead the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in “educating” the judiciary about the new field of environmental law in the region, the course was already being taught in Philippine law schools as a compulsory subject. It was realized that for the Asean judiciary and practicing lawyers at the time, environmental law cases were thought of as a “hot potato” as they did not have environmental law courses when they took up their law studies.
Choices for ‘new realities’
With the realities brought about by environmental problems everywhere, there was speculation that sooner or later environmental law would become a subject for the Bar exams. Law, after all, is a tool to put order in society, i.e., to solve environmental problems or provide a cause of action to environmental issues and concerns.
While coping with the challenges brought about by the climate crisis, overpopulation, poverty, food and water availability, and public health care (a subject undergoing a well-deserved renaissance following the Covid-19 pandemic), environmental law found a niche in the Philippine legal system. Broken was the decadeslong cycle of Bar examinees who labored for years at classroom law studies for a future determined only by a few days of written exams.
More reforms and further improvements are, however, needed in view of the ever-changing needs and evolving definition of law practice about which the law curriculum is the vehicle for preparedness. Thus, rethinking and more elaboration must be done on the following: 1) rearrangement or sequencing of subjects/courses in the law school; 2) the clinical legal program now in place; and 3) written Bar exams which will do away with competition for topping the exams by colleges and universities to be recognized as the best at law education instead of producing practice-ready new lawyers.
Further choices revolve around reduction of minimum load for law students with provision for updates and ample amount of coaching in practical skills; a moot court course with more opportunity and exposure to role-playing; and submission of an undergraduate thesis that will hone their writing skills. After all, lawyering is not purely oral but requires more of legal writing.
More importantly, there is nothing permanent in law. It grows in accord with the needs of the time. In the area of environmental law, so much influence of human beings on nature came to the fore, e.g., uncontrolled emission of greenhouse gases by industries; loss of biodiversity to satisfy people’s need for food and sustenance; diminution of wetlands to give way to human settlements, etc. Is it not the right time to impart to law students the matter of changing environmental governance brought about by the Anthropocene era and prepare them well for new developments in the “modernization” of environmental law?
And, what happens to the compulsory two-unit environmental law course in the present law school curriculum? Choices range from a uniform approach or a choice of concentration on an environmental law problem, issue or concern in the locality that will involve local people participation.
As former Legal Education Board chairman Melanie Trinidad said, “The country owes the present and future law students a program of study responsive to rapidly challenging times and adaptable to their ever-increasing curiosity.”
Responding to challenges
It is worth noting that there exists a Philippine Earth Justice Center (PEJC) which set up five Green Legal Clinics in Cebu. Since 2021, these clinics have risen to 30 across the Philippine archipelago.
PEJC executive director John Menguito says that in order to empower the public, they provide the legal tools, knowledge and support to hold polluters accountable, defend people’s right to a healthy environment, support to hold polluters accountable and push for more effective environmental protection by the government.
Each environmental law clinic is composed of law students supervised by practicing lawyers. For example, the clinic at the University of Cebu has 40 students managed by four lawyers.
PEJCs environmental law clinics handle a variety of issues which include, among others, pollution, plastic waste disposal, coral reef damage, illegal fishing and water mismanagement.
Making choices as pointed out will have to extend to targeting how law educators will adapt to changes in this evolving world after the pandemic. It is important for them to equip students with the necessary knowledge, skills and values to prepare them well into their future of law practice. Toward that end, further choices ought to be made. Should AI (artificial intelligence) with appropriate guidelines, safeguards and regulations be in the legal education curriculum? How to handle different approaches to teaching law and ethics in today’s environment.
Considering the lessons learned from the pandemic vis-à-vis national political developments, how to navigate the transformative constitutional changes that may be necessary.
Indeed, coping with environmental law education has become very complex in this changing world at an unprecedented speed.
