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11-4
Chapter 11
Fees and Cost of Review
Section 1.0 of Article VIII: Payment of Fees
All proponents, upon submission of the IEE/EIS, shall
pay a filing fee of PHP 310.00, a processing fee of PHP
1,750.00, and a legal and research fee of PHP 70.00.
NOTES:
The fees enumerated above must all be paid by the
proponent, regardless of whether the ECC is eventually
granted or denied. These fees cover the basic costs to
government of the processing of proponent�s application.
When what is sought is not an ECC, but a certificate of
non-coverage, only the filing fee of PHP 310.00 needs to be
paid by the applicant.
Section 2.0 Additional Costs
The proponent shall be responsible for the payment of
all costs relating to the review of its IEE/EIS, in
accordance with the guidelines in the EIS Procedural Manual.
NOTES:
The required fees cover only the basic costs of
processing the proponent�s application, i.e., the cost to
EMB or the Regional Office of the procedural review.
Substantive review of the application, however, entails
substantial resources that can not be absorbed by the EMB or
Regional Office budget. Thus, review that relies on
government money is often slow.
In an effort to speed up review of proponent�s
application, the DENR has now transferred the responsibility
of shouldering all costs attendant to the review of a
project�s IEE or EIS to the proponent. The amount that will
cover such cost is required to be deposited with a fund
manager, who will then disburse the necessary amounts based
on mechanics to be agreed upon among the fund manager, the
EMB or DENR Regional Office, and the proponent. Such system
is designed to ensure transparency in disbursement of funds
and dispel suspicions of bribery and exertion of undue
influence on the reviewers.
The cost of the EIA review process, as well as the
procedure for revising such cost estimate, shall be
determined and agreed upon between the proponent and the EMB
or DENR Regional Office during the scoping sessions. For
this purpose, the proponent and the EMB or DENR Regional
Office may conduct a separate, closed-door session. The
fund manager, i.e., a third party who will handle the review
funds, may also join the meeting.
After agreement on the estimated cost of the review
process, the proponent must deposit such amount with the
fund manager who shall disburse the funds in accordance with
agreed procedures that should include the procedure for
replenishment of funds. AT NO TIME SHOULD THE FUNDS FOR
REVIEW COSTS BE GIVEN DIRECTLY TO THE DENR REGIONAL OFFICE,
DENR REGIONAL OFFICE, OR MEMBERS OF THE EIARC. After the
negotiations leading to the establishment of the amount
involved for review costs, the proponent should deal only
with the fund manager, who in turn deals with the EMB, DENR
Regional Office, and members of the EIARC.
The review funds shall be held by the fund manager as
trustee; the ownership of said amount remains with the
proponent, and will not at any point be acquired by the
government nor by the fund manager. It is understood,
however, that the fund manager shall be entitled to a
reasonable management fee.
The fund manager must be duly empowered to act as such,
must have a reputation for professionalism and
trustworthiness, and must have adequate experience in the
field of fund management. The fund manager should not be
directly or indirectly related to the proponent, the members
of the EIARC, the EMB, or the DENR Regional Office.
Expenses attendant to the review process include, but
are not limited to, the following items:
� honoraria of EIA Review Committee members
The amount of honoraria to be paid to the EIARC members
should be commensurate to their status as professionals
and the time they will provide for the review. It
should reasonably approximate the opportunity cost to
said members, i.e., how much they will lose from their
means of livelihood as a result of the performance of
their duties as review committee members. Considering,
however, that membership in the review committee is not
a money-making venture but a performance of a civic
duty, such honoraria should not be unreasonable.
� site visit expenses of EIARC members, resource persons,
and DENR staff
Only members of the EIARC and key DENR staff can insist
that their site visit expenses be shouldered by the
proponent through the trust fund. These expenses
include round trip transport cost using the most
economical and practical route, and reasonable per diem
to cover food and accommodation, depending on site
location and the attendant cost of living, for a
maximum of three (3) days per trip inclusive of travel
time.
The per diem of EIARC members is over and above the
honorarium to which they are entitled. One (1) site
visit, although it may last the maximum of three (3)
days, is considered as one (1) EIARC meeting. DENR
personnel are not entitled to such honoraria or
allowances, since they are on official time during the
site visit, and continue to earn their salary. DENR
personnel may only be given cash advances or reimbursed
for the reasonable expenses during the site visit.
� supplies and materials
These expenses, which may be incurred during the site
visit, or at some other time, include supplies and
materials, such as containers, chemicals, rental of
equipment, laboratory analysis and other related costs.
� logistical support for EIARC meetings
These expenses include the cost of food per meeting,
supplies and materials for preparation of individual
and EIARC reports, reproduction cost, transportation
costs of EIARC members to and from their meetings, and
cost of communicating with EIARC members.
� public hearing
In addition to the costs of food, travel and
accommodations for EIARC members and key DENR staff,
the proponent should shoulder expenses for the
preparation of materials for the public hearing, cost
of venue and food of participants.
The funds disbursed by the third party should be fully
accounted for upon completion of the review process. Copies
of such report shall be given to the proponent and the DENR
Regional Office or the EMB.
It should be understood that the proponent�s payment of
additional expenses associated with the review process does
not guarantee the issuance of an ECC to its project. The
financial support is mainly intended to facilitate the
review and avoid undue delay to the project which will then
increase the cost of the proponent.
The concept of the funds for review costs is premised
on the need to augment limited government resources in the
conduct of the EIA review It is not the intention of DENR
to coerce proponents to shoulder the cost of the review.
Even if the proponent fails or is unable to pay for the cost
of the review, the DENR can still provide regular government
service. In such case, however, the pace of the review
process will slow down and would proceed depending on the
availability of government resources. Under such
conditions, the timeframe provided in the guidelines may not
be met by DENR.
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