'GREEN LAWYERS' ALSO RARE SPECIES
Posted: 6:41 AM (Manila Time) | Apr. 01, 2004
By Delfin T. Mallari Jr.
Inquirer News Service

THEIRS is an endangered profession whose extinction would also affect efforts to protect and preserve the country's environment and natural resources. "Public interest environmental lawyering is now getting rare among law practitioners in the country. It's now an endangered human species," lamented lawyer Asis Perez, area director of the Tanggol Kalikasan-Southern Luzon, a private environmental legal defense center based in Lucena City.

During the First Philippine Public Interest Environmental Law Conference at a resort in the town of Tiaong in Quezon province last week, only around 40 environmental lawyers from across the country participated, he said. Of the number, only 15 are men. Perez, a 1992 graduate of the Ateneo de Manila University who first worked with the Haribon Foundation, said around 20 law students also attended. "At least," he said, "we're assured that we're not getting extinct in the near future." The youngest lawyer in the staff of the Tanggol Kalikasan belongs to the 1999 law graduates, he said.

He attributed the shortage of "green lawyers" to the big disparity in pay between conventional legal practitioners and his group. "The rate is not really competitive. If private and government law offices can offer 100 percent as starting rate, environmental lawyering could only offer half of it as initial rate," he said. "And the fact is that we have to scour for our own fund to keep our project moving," Perez added. He said they secured the group's funding from local and foreign sources.

Environmental lawyering is a recent phenomenon. It was borne out of development plans and policies that have often destroyed the environment. Clients are often impoverished communities, such as those of indigenous peoples who are threatened by displacement with the entry of private firms inside government-declared protected areas, and farmers out to lose their fields because of questionable development projects of the government. Perez said "green lawyers" could also be found in the Environmental Legal Assistance Center, Paglilingkod Batas Pangkapatiran Foundation, Panlipi and Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center, which attended the conference.

Environmental lawyers are not only confined to the legal aspects of the field, he said. They must also have practical knowledge on constituency building, organizing, mass action and mobilization that could endanger themselves, he said. "Most often, our presence is needed in no man's land or in remote risky areas," Perez said. "This is one of the main reasons [for] the scarcity of our kind." Despite the inherent hardship and danger in the profession, Perez was still profuse with tales of warm display of gratitude from the beneficiaries of their work. "The lack of financial reward is being complemented by sincere expression of appreciation from our clients. It is either through fresh fruits, fish, sumptuous meals, beautiful flowers from the wild or just plain sincere handshake of thanks," he said.

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