Philippine Green Legal Clinics empower communities against environmental harm

By Cora Llamas 

Originally published in The Manila Times on 27 September 2025.

The people and organizations who fight for the planet and call others into account for damaging it need resources, a knowledge of the law and a strong courageous voice if they are to win their battles. This is why the Philippine Earth Justice Center (PEJC) established its first five Green Legal Clinics (GLC), many of them in Cebu, in 2021. Since then, the number has risen to 30 across the archipelago, with each clinic handling one to two cases each year.

GLCs might be more needed now at a time when the public is increasingly seeking accountability from those who are responsible for accelerating the adverse impacts of climate change that are affecting the nation. GLC founder and PEJC Executive Director John Menguito says in order to empower said public, they give them “legal tools, knowledge and support to hold polluters accountable, defend their rights and push for stronger environmental protections.”

He established GLCs as “specialized law clinics for the environment.” Each is composed of law students supervised by practicing lawyers who have knowledge of and experience in environmental law. Its size is contingent on the school that PEJC partners with. For example, the University of Cebu’s clinic usually has 40 law students managed by four lawyers, while a college in Mindanao has 20 of the former handled by two of the latter.

GLCs receive support from different public interest groups like the nongovernmental organization Client Earth “to promote environmental advocacy, provide timely assistance to environmental disputes and capacitate local communities,” says Menguito. He adds that their cases handle a variety of issues from coral reef damage, pollution, illegal fishing, to water mismanagement, just to name a few.

GLCs take the case of plaintiffs like a whistleblower who points out environmental damage and its perpetrators. A barangay captain himself reported his own local government unit (LGU) for partnering with a corporation to privatize a river which was a public source of water. Another successful case was stopping a waste-to-energy incineration project in Baguio, which the GLC said violated the Clean Air Act.

Fighting harassment

GLCs also defend individuals or organizations who are being harassed by larger, wealthier entities. One reason why PEJC and its GLCs partnered with law enforcement organizations was because their men and women in uniform were being slapped with lawsuits by corporations accused of illegal fishing.

Menguito recalls, “The police chief was just enforcing his job when he caught those commercial fishers. Afterward, he and his unit were piled with many lawsuits like robbery and theft. Lawsuits were filed against them because the commercial fishers are moneyed individuals.”

Harassment can also happen online, especially to individuals who do not have the means to fight back. In 2018, a senior citizen in Cebu posted her concerns on Facebook about quarry operations which opened near her barangay. The company behind it had already been deemed responsible for a landslide in another town. Not long after, the company filed a cyber libel lawsuit against her. A GLC took her case, citing her right to her freedom of speech.

The harassment lawsuits are intended to silence the victims, says Menguito. Knowledge and training can give the people the means to stand their ground and fight back, he adds. Aside from litigating cases, GLCs conduct training, capacity-building, information and education campaigns, and policy reforms and proposals for LGUs, fisherfolk, farmers, students, law enforcers and NGOs.

GLCs also help law students and other lawyers update their knowledge and skills in environmental law. Menguito says that there is a huge gap of awareness in this area which has to be filled. To date, he maintains that only a few units of the subject are taught in the entire university law degree program. “Even the prosecutors need training on environmental laws,” he says.

Newer initiatives mean expanding the GLCs’ base. The development of specialized courts will have more judges who themselves “are specialized when it comes to the environment.” The Young Environmental Champions Program will pick and train youth from the Sangguniang Kabataan and the different colleges — hopefully, the next generation who will protect an embattled planet.