I.

ESSAY

1. Municipality A enacted an ordinance requiring its residents to pay 1000 pesos per household every year for the
collection and disposal of garbage. Mr. Not clean filed a case in court to declare the ordinance invalid on the
ground that it violates the equal protection clause of the Constitution when it imposed a uniform garbage fee
for all resident regardless of the type and volume of waste generated. Municipality A countered that the
Ecological Solid Waste Management Act authorises collection of garbage fee and thus the ordinance imposing
the fee is valid.

If you were the judge, how would you rule. Why?

2. Taon Strait is a body of water separating the islands of Cebu and Negros. It is a protected area (seascape) under
the National Integrated Protected Areas Systems Act (NIPAS). ON 2 August 2017, the municipal mayor of Aloguinsan
together with his family and some of his office staff went river cruising. When they reached the mouth of the river,
they heard explosions and saw three fishermen throwing explosives into the water. The mayor caused the
apprehension of the fishermen and initiated the filing of cases against them for violation of the Fisheries Code.

In their counter-affidavit, counsel for the accused claimed that the case should be dismissed on the following
grounds:

a. The provisions of the Fisheries Code is not applicable in waters found within protected areas such as the Taon
Strait; and
b. The mayor or any of his companions had no authority to cause the arrest of the fishermen because the
jurisdiction over protected areas is under the Protected Areas Management Board (PAMB) and not the
municipality.

3. Mega Plastic, Inc. is a corporation engaged in the production of plastic bags and accessories operating in
Inayawan, Cebu City. Sometime in July 2016, a team from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-
Region VII went inside the premises of the company for the purpose of determining whether the company is
complying with its Environmental Compliance Certificate and the provisions of the Ecological Solid Waste
Management Act.

The manager objected to their presence and demanded that they present a search warrant. Is his objection valid.

4. Dionisio Triplanes wrote a letter to the office of City mayor Thomas Change demanding that the open dump site
in Labasyawan be closed pursuant to the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act. Irked by the letter, Mayor Change
want to file a case against Triplanes to harass him and silence his protests.

If you were the lawyer for the mayor, what would be your advice and why?

5. At around 4am in the waters of Batanes, approximately one kilometre from the shore, a navy patrol saw an
unregistered fishing boat throwing their nets into the sea. The navy patrol proceeded to the fishing boat and there
they discovered that the boat weighs 200 Gross Tons and it has 30 fish workers including the officers. All the fish
workers are undocumented. In addition, they also discovered several tons of tuna, ten marine turtles and 5 manta
rays on board the boat.

A. If you were the prosecutor, what cases would you file and against whom?

B. The lawyer for the accused raises the objection that the evidence presented by the prosecution are inadmissible
in evidence on the ground that the search was not accompanied by a valid search warrant, thus invalid.

If you were the judge, how would you rule. Why?