-CASE DIGEST-
League of
Provinces of the Philippines v. DENR
G.R. No. 175368 April 11, 2013
SUBJECT: LAW ON PUBLIC CORPORATION
TOPIC: Local Autonomy of Provinces
ISSUE: Whether or not Section 17(B)(3)(III) of R.A. No. 7160 and Section 24 of R.A. No. 7076 are unconstitutional for providing for executive control and infringing upon the local autonomy of provinces.
HELD:
No. In this case, respondent DENR Secretary has the authority to
nullify the Small-Scale Mining Permits
issued by the
Provincial Governor of
Bulacan, as the
DENR Secretary has control
over the PMRB,
and the implementation of
the Small-Scale Mining Program
is subject to
control by respondent
DENR.
Paragraph 1 of
Section 2, Article XII
of the Constitution provides that "the exploration, development
and utilization of natural
resources shall be
under the full
control and supervision
of the State."
Under said provision,
the DENR has the
duty to control
and supervise the exploration, development, utilization
and conservation of
the country's natural resources. Hence, the
enforcement of small-scale
mining law in
the provinces is
made subject to the supervision, control and review of the DENR under
the Local Government Code of 1991, while the People’s Small-Scale Mining
Act of 1991
provides that the People’s Small-Scale Mining
Program is to be implemented
by the DENR
Secretary in coordination with
other concerned local
government agencies.
The Court has
clarified that the
constitutional guarantee of
local autonomy in
the Constitution Art. X,
Sec. 2 refers to
the administrative autonomy
of local government units
or the decentralization of
government authority. It does
not make local governments sovereign within the State.
The Local Government
Code did not
fully devolve the enforcement of
the small-scale mining
law to the
provincial government, as
its enforcement is subject
to the supervision,
control and review
of the DENR,
which is in charge,
subject to law
and higher authority,
of carrying out
the State's constitutional mandate to
control and supervise
the exploration, development,
utilization of the country's natural resources.
The DENR Secretary's
power to review and
decide the issue
on the validity
of the issuance
of the Small-Scale
Mining Permits by the
Provincial Governor as
recommended by the
PMRB, is a quasi-judicial
function, which involves
the determination of
what the law
is, and what
the legal rights of the
contending parties are, with respect to the matter in controversy and, on
the basis thereof
and the facts
obtaining, the adjudication of
their respective rights. The
DENR Secretary exercises quasi-judicial function under R.A. No. 7076 and its
Implementing Rules and
Regulations to the
extent necessary in
settling disputes, conflicts or
litigations over conflicting
claims.
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