Title
Cordillera Global Network vs. Paje
Case
G.R. No. 215988
Decision Date
Apr 10, 2019
Dispute over SM City Baguio expansion involving tree removal; Supreme Court ruled permits violated environmental laws, prioritizing ecological protection over development.
environmental protection
reevaluation
replanting

Case Summary (G.R. No. 215988)

Factual Background

The controversy arose from the development known as the SM Pines Resort Project on Luneta Hill, Baguio City, which received an Environmental Compliance Certificate on September 13, 2001. The original project contemplated removal of about 112 trees with specified mitigation measures. SM Investments Corporation later pursued an Expansion Project for its mall that, according to filings, would affect an additional 182 Benguet pine and Alnus trees. SM filed for an amendment to its Environmental Compliance Certificate and submitted revised Environmental Performance Reports between December 2010 and April 2011. The DENR-Cordillera Administrative Region granted the amendment on September 22, 2011, and, following a directive from then Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje, a tree-cutting and earth-balling permit was issued in October 2011 subject to conditions including public consultations, procurement of an environmental compliance certificate prior to operations, restrictions on the number and disposition of trees to be cut or earth-balled, replanting requirements, and DENR supervision. Earth-balling operations began on April 9, 2012, prompting immediate suits by local residents and environmental groups seeking injunctive relief.

Trial Court Proceedings

Petitioners filed multiple civil actions in the Regional Trial Court seeking a temporary environmental protection order and a permanent injunction enjoining the cutting and earth-balling of the trees. The trial court granted a seventy-two-hour emergency order and subsequently extended a Temporary Environmental Protection Order for the pendency of the proceedings. After consolidated hearings, the Regional Trial Court, in its December 3, 2012 decision, dismissed the consolidated complaints and lifted the Temporary Environmental Protection Order. The trial court accepted that petitioners had standing under the principle of transcendental importance but dismissed the cases on procedural grounds for failure to exhaust administrative remedies. It further found petitioners’ expert testimony wanting, placed weight on the mitigation plans offered by the private respondents, and gave effect to the presumption of regularity in the issuance of the amended Environmental Compliance Certificate and other permits.

Court of Appeals Ruling

The Court of Appeals, in its December 12, 2014 decision, affirmed the trial court. It held that petitioners failed to establish any exception to the rule on exhaustion of administrative remedies and that questions of fact should be resolved administratively because of the technical nature of the matters. The appellate court also found that petitioners did not rebut the presumption of regularity attaching to the issuance of official permits and certificates.

Petition to the Supreme Court and Interim Relief

Petitioners filed a Petition for Review on Certiorari under Rule 45, Rules of Court on March 6, 2015. The Supreme Court issued a Temporary Restraining Order on March 24, 2015 enjoining private respondents from cutting and balling trees in Luneta Hill, and later modified that order on April 19, 2016 while giving due course to the petition. The case proceeded by way of memoranda and numerous motions, including motions by private respondents to dissolve the TRO and assertions that the petition raised prohibited questions of fact and suffered from procedural defects such as an allegedly defective certification against forum shopping.

Issues Presented to the Supreme Court

The Court framed four principal issues: (1) whether the Petition was dismissible for a defective verification and certification against forum shopping; (2) whether factual issues barred review under Rule 45; (3) whether the petitioners failed to exhaust administrative remedies and whether the doctrine of primary jurisdiction applied; and (4) whether the permits and the amended Environmental Compliance Certificate issued in favor of private respondents were validly and regularly issued.

Petitioners’ Contentions

Cordillera Global Network and co-petitioners argued that the Expansion Project was not a mere expansion but a new project including an eleven-story mall and a five-story parking structure, in violation of Baguio City zoning ordinances that limit building height. They maintained that the DENR erred by failing to require an environmental impact assessment and by not mandating a separate Environmental Compliance Certificate for the additional cutting and earth-balling of 182 trees. Petitioners also alleged inadequate public consultation, and invoked prior decisions such as Lina v. Pano and Boracay Foundation, Inc. v. Aklan to support their contention that exhaustion requirements did not bar judicial relief where stakeholders were not parties to administrative proceedings.

Respondents’ Contentions

Private respondents, principally SM Investments Corporation, SM Prime Holdings, Inc., and related entities, contended that the Petition impermissibly raised questions of fact on certiorari and that the petition suffered from procedural infirmity because only a fraction of the claimed petitioners signed the verification and certification against forum shopping. They asserted that the amended Environmental Compliance Certificate and the tree-cutting and earth-balling permit were lawfully issued after compliance with DENR requirements, that requisite public consultations and social acceptability processes were undertaken, and that the later removal of trees or expiration of permits rendered portions of the case moot. Public respondents argued that petitioners should have exhausted administrative remedies under DENR DAO No. 2003-30 and that the tree-cutting activities were authorized under the terms of the amended Environmental Compliance Certificate and subsequent permits.

Verification and Certification Against Forum Shopping — Court’s Finding

The Court applied the doctrine of substantial compliance in assessing the alleged defect in the verification and certification against forum shopping. Relying on its precedent in Altres v. Empleo, the Court held that the signature of thirty petitioners furnished sufficient assurance as to the good faith and factual basis of the pleading. The Court therefore declined to dismiss the Petition on that ground, but noted that non-signing petitioners may be dropped in suitable cases; here the petitioners shared a common interest and the partial signing amounted to substantial compliance.

Reviewability of Factual Questions on Rule 45 — Exceptions Recognized

The Court reiterated that petitions under Rule 45 are confined to questions of law, but underscored recognized exceptions where factual findings of lower courts may be reviewed. Citing Medina v. Mayor Asistio, Jr. and related authorities, the Court observed that petitioners met the burden to show that the case fell under exceptions such as when a judgment rests on a misapprehension of facts and when findings of fact are conclusions without citation of specific evidence. The Court thus found that the case warranted review of certain factual determinations made below.

Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies and Primary Jurisdiction — Legal Analysis

The Court examined DENR DAO No. 2003-30, particularly Section 6, and jurisprudence including Boracay Foundation, Inc. to construe who may invoke the administrative appeal remedy. It observed that the appeal prescribed in Section 6 is typically available to parties to the administrative proceedings, but stakeholders may not be categorically precluded. The Court emphasized that the doctrine of exhaustion of administrative remedies and primary jurisdiction may be dispensed with when exceptions apply, such as where the act is patently illegal or where there is urgency or a purely legal question. The Court concluded that petitioners were not parties to the original applications for the Environmental Compliance Certificate and thus were not furnished the administrative decision that would trigger the fifteen-day appeal period under DAO 2003-30; this circumstance limited the applicability of the exhaustion requirement to the petitioners in their posture.

Zoning and Locational Clearances — Allocation of Administrative Competence

On zoning claims, the Court explained the role of Baguio City’s Zoning Ordinance (Ordinance No. 51, series of 2001) and the implementation responsibilities devolved to local planning offices under Executive Order No. 72. The Court held that challenges to locational clearances and zoning classifications are, in principle, matters for administrative review before the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) in its appellate capacity, and that petitioners should have pursued administrative remedies to contest the locational clearances issued by the City Planning and Development Office.

Validity of the Amended Environmental Compliance Certificate and Tree-Cutting Permit — Core Holding

The Court decisively addressed whether the amended Environmental Compliance Certificate lawfully covered the cutting or earth-balling of an additional 182 trees. It found that the original Environmental Compliance Certificate issued in 2001 contemplated removal of about 112 trees and included explicit replanting and mitigation conditions. The amended certificate granted in 2011, however, did not properly account for the substantially greater tree removal occasioned by the Expansion Project, nor did it resolve whether the affected trees were naturally grown or planted — a distinction critical under Executive Order No. 23 (2011), which declared a moratorium on cutting timber in natural and residual forests. The Court emphasized that the DENR’s October 17, 2011 memorandum, which set conditions for issuing a tree-cutting and earth-balling permit, expressly required that the permittee secure an Environmental Compliance Certificate before commencing tree-cutting operations and imposed stringent mitigation measures. The Supreme Court concluded that the removal and earth

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