By Atty. Julius Gregory B. Delgado
PHILIPPINE ECOSYSTEM AND NATURAL CAPITAL ACCOUNTING SYSTEM (PENCAS)
Our province was rocked by controversy because of Captain’s Peak, a tourist establishment nestled at the foot of the famous Chocolate Hills. It is so timely that President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos, Jr. signed Republic Act No. 11995 enacting the Philippine Ecosystem and Natural Capital Accounting System (PENCAS). The law paves way for the institutionalization of PENCAS within the government bureaucracy. The system shall be based on internationally accepted environmental-economic accounting frameworks. Among others, the PENCAS framework shall include official designated statistics on the depletion, degradation, and restoration of natural capital; environmental protection expenditures; pollution and quality of land, air, and water; environmental damages; and adjusted net savings.
The objectives of PENCAS are as follows: a) support economic, environmental, and health policy development and decision-making; b) provide a system for the collection, compilation, and development of physical and natural capital accounts in the government as a tool for physical and development planning and programming, policy analysis, and decision-making; c) serve as a comprehensive data framework in the generation of natural capital statistics and accounts towards their progressive integration in macroeconomic indicators; d) provide tools and measures that contribute to the protection, conservation, and restoration of ecosystems; and e) provide valuation of ecosystem services such as provisioning, regulating and maintenance, and cultural services.
It is the Philippine Statistics Authority Board which will oversee the implementation of PENCAS. However, there is a directive to create an interagency committee known as Interagency Committee on Environment and Natural Resources Statistics (IACENRS) which shall provide support in ensuring the data requirements for the National Capital Accounting or NCA are being generated by concerned agencies. The IACENRS shall adopt, implement, and update an NCA Roadmap that will (1) guide short-term, medium-term, and long-term activities for natura capital accounts development; and (2) prioritize areas for budget support and monitoring and evaluation of NCA implementation in the country. Moreover, there is a TWG on NCA under IACENRS which shall consist of the PSA as lead accounts compiler, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) as main data producer, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), and the Department of Agriculture (DA). The PSA shall serve as the Chair and shall provide secretariat to the TWG. Furthermore, the law also provides the roles of various National Government Agencies and Local Government Units in coming up with NCA Roadmap.
The most notable feature of this new law is the so-called “Rights of Nature” which states that “Nothing in this Act shall be construed to mean that nature has no inherent and intrinsic value separate and distinct from its economic value.” The law further states that “The maintenance of nature’s vital cycles, functions, and processes ensures the sustainability and health of natural ecosystems.” This principle is in recognition of the fact that there are limits to the ability of these natural ecosystems to regenerate and that human development that alters or affects them must be sustainable and must allow for their renewal and restoration.
Ergo, the PENCAS still creates the balance of economic drive in utilizing natural capital and resources but at the same time ensuring sustainable development for future generations and to save the already fragile planet.