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01 ALexandria Condominium vs. LLDA

(1) The petition for certiorari filed by The Alexandra Condominium Corporation (TACC) before the Court of Appeals was premature because TACC failed to first exhaust its administrative remedies before the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary. Under Executive Order 192, disputes about pollution are first adjudicated by the Pollution Adjudication Board under the DENR Secretary before being elevated to courts. (2) The Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) has the power to impose fines on parties that fail to meet government standards for wastewater discharge. Under the law that created LLDA, it is entitled to compensation for damages resulting from failures to comply with water and efflu

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1K views2 pages

01 ALexandria Condominium vs. LLDA

(1) The petition for certiorari filed by The Alexandra Condominium Corporation (TACC) before the Court of Appeals was premature because TACC failed to first exhaust its administrative remedies before the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary. Under Executive Order 192, disputes about pollution are first adjudicated by the Pollution Adjudication Board under the DENR Secretary before being elevated to courts. (2) The Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) has the power to impose fines on parties that fail to meet government standards for wastewater discharge. Under the law that created LLDA, it is entitled to compensation for damages resulting from failures to comply with water and efflu

Uploaded by

michiko
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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2C NATRES | DIGESTS

1. Alexandria Condominium vs. LLDA,.


TOPIC Clean Water G.R. No. 169228

STUDENT Cerezo DATE: Sept. 11, 2009

DOCTRINE The Alexandra Condominium Corporation should have first resorted to an


administrative remedy before the DENR Secretary prior to filing a petition for
certiorari before the Court of Appeals. The doctrine of exhaustion of administrative
remedies requires that resort be first made with the administrative authorities in the
resolution of a controversy falling under their jurisdiction before the controversy
may be elevated to a court of justice for review. A premature invocation of a court’s
intervention renders the complaint without cause of action and dismissible. The
LLDA has the power to impose fines because under Section 4-A of RA No. 4850,
as amended, LLDA is entitled to compensation for damages resulting from failure
to meet established water and effluent quality standards.

FACTS On June 24 1998, Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) advised The
Alexandra Condominium Corporation (TACC) that its wastewater did not meet
government effluent standards. LLDA informed TACC that it must put up its own
Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) for its effluent discharge to meet government
standards. Despite experimenting with a proposed solution from Larutan
Resources Development Corporation, the water discharge of TACC still failed to
meet the government standards. As a result, the LLDA issued a Notice of Violation
and imposed upon TACC a daily fine of One Thousand Pesos (P1,000) from March
26, 1999 until full cessation of pollutive wastewater discharge. In order to comply,
TACC entered into an agreement with World Chem Marketing for the construction
of the sewage treatment plant. TACC requested LLDA to dismiss the water
pollution case against it because of the favorable analysis undertaken by the
LLDA’s Pollution Control Division. The LLDA denied the request. TACC filed a
petition for certiorari before the Court of Appeals, but the Court of Appeals
dismissed the petition.

ISSUE/S (1) Whether the petition for certiorari was prematurely filed for failure to exhaust
administrative remedies.
(2) Whether the Laguna Lake Development Authority has the power to impose
fines.

RULING (1) Yes. The petition was prematurely filed. First, TACC should have first resorted
to an administrative remedy before the DENR Secretary prior to filing a petition for
certiorari before the Court of Appeals. EO No. 192, which reorganized the DENR,
mandates the DENR to promulgate rules and regulations for the control of pollution
and to promulgate ambient and effluent standards for water and air quality. The
Pollution Adjudication Board was created by EO No. 192 under the Office of the
DENR Secretary. It assumed the powers and functions of the NPCC with respect
to the adjudication of pollution cases, including NPCC’s function to “[s]erve as
arbitrator for the determination of reparation, or restitution of the damages and
losses resulting from pollution.” Hence, TACC has an administrative recourse
before the DENR Secretary which it should have first pursued before filing a
petition for certiorari before the Court of Appeals.

(2) Yes. LLDA has the power to impose fines. Under Section 4-A of RA No. 4850,

1
2C NATRES | DIGESTS
as amended, LLDA is entitled to compensation for damages resulting from failure
to meet established water and effluent standards.

NOTE/S Section 4-A. Compensation for damages to the water and aquatic resources of
Laguna de Bay and its tributaries resulting from failure to meet established water and
effluent quality standards or from such other wrongful act or omission of a person,
private or public, juridical or otherwise, punishable under the law shall be awarded to
the Authority to be earmarked for water quality control and management.

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