A new law signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will allow the government to seek significantly bigger penalties for environmental crimes by including the value of ecosystem services—not just the physical resources destroyed—in the computation of damages, DENR Assistant Secretary Norlito Eneran said Saturday.
Eneran made the statement in an interview on DZRH News program Special on Saturday on August 15, as part of the DZRH SONA 2026 Series featuring the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
He said environmental penalties in the Philippines have historically been low because courts and prosecutors could only value the physical resource destroyed—such as the timber value of a felled tree—without accounting for the broader ecological services that tree provided to the surrounding community.
“Ang problema natin ngayon, karamihan ng ating mga environmental laws, medyo mababa ang penalty because hindi natin nava-valuate nang maayos ‘yung ating natural resources,” Eneran said.
Under the Philippine Ecosystem and Natural Capital Accounting System, or PENCAS, prosecutors can now include in their complaints the value of the ecosystem services lost—such as flood protection, water supply, and soil stabilization — when computing the damage caused by environmental violations.
“Ngayon, kung mapepresyuhan natin ‘yung ecosystem services, masasama natin sa kaso at mapapalaki ‘yung presyo niya. Malaki rin ang penalty,” Eneran said.
He said this change strengthens enforcement of the Revised Forestry Code and other environmental laws, which have long been criticized for imposing penalties too low to deter violators or reflect the true cost of the damage they cause.
Eneran said the whole-of-government approach to environmental enforcement—which includes the DENR, local government units, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Philippine National Police (PNP), and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)—remains in place and will be further strengthened by the higher valuation framework that PENCAS makes possible.
