Two UST Graduate School of Law alumnae pushed for bills to the Senate promoting environmental protection and sustainability measures, in harmony with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), as part of recommendations to their thesis and dissertation.
Atty. Gay Christine C. Cortes-Lopez, LLM, of the Class of 2025, pushed for an Act to build a legal framework towards a carbon tax law and put a price on carbon emissions in the Philippines. This bill focused on SDG #7 – Affordable and Clean Energy; #8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth; and #9 – Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure.
Cortes-Lopez’s adviser was Atty. Manuel Peter S. Solis, PhD, a legal academic and policy expert with interdisciplinary experience in climate law and governance, renewable energy, sustainability, and international environmental law. Atty. Solis is a senior lecturer in law at Deakin University and a visiting faculty member at the University of Sydney Law School.
Doctor of Civil Law candidate Judge Rebecca Austria Guillen-Ubaña pushed for an act creating the “Kalikasan Court and for other Purposes”, which was formed to be on the same level as the Court of Appeals that possesses inherent powers of a Court of Justice. This bill likewise zeroed in on SDG #13 – Climate Action and #16 – Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions.
Moreover, Guillen-Ubaña’s study employed a doctrinal or black letter law methodology to analyze the legal framework in pushing for an environmental court in the Philippines.
By effecting a descriptive, analytical, and historical examination of domestic environmental laws, the Rules of Procedure for Environmental Cases, Supreme Court decisions, and foreign laws establishing environmental courts, this study examines the concepts of sustainable development, access to justice, and “green benches.”
Her adviser was Hon. Charito M. Macalintal-Sawali, Presiding Judge of RTC Branch 66 and Executive Judge of the Regional Trial Court, Tanauan City.
Also present during the turnover of the draft bills to the Senate were GS Law Dean Atty. Jacqueline O. Lopez-Kaw, DCL, Regent Rev. Fr. Dexter A. Austria, O.P., SThD, and Faculty of Secretary Asst. Prof. Leidy May G. Alnajes, LPT, MA.