LAGUNA LAKE DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY vs COURT OF APPEALS

FACTS:

The residents of Tala Estate, Barangay Camarin, Caloocan City raised a

complaint with the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA), seeking to stop
the operation of the City Government of Caloocan of an 8.6 hectare open garbage
dumpsite in Tala Estate, due to its harmful effects on the health of the residents and
the pollution of the surrounding water. LLDA discovered that the City Government
of Caloocan has been maintaining the open dumpsite at the Camarin Area without
a requisite Environmental Compliance Certificate from the Environmental
Management Bureau of the DENR. They also found the water to have been directly
contaminated by the operation of the dumpsite.

LLDA issued a Cease and Desist Order against the City Government and other
entities to completely halt, stop and desist from dumping any form or kind of
garbage and other waste matter on the Camarin dumpsite.

The City Government went to the Regional Trial Court of Caloocan City to file
an action for the declaration of nullity of the cease and desist order and sought to
be declared as the sole authority empowered to promote the health and safety and
enhance the right of the people in Caloocan City to a balanced ecology within its
territorial jurisdiction.

LLDA sought to dismiss the complaint, invoking the Pollution Control Law that
the review of cease and desist orders of that nature falls under the Court of Appeals
and not the RTC.

RTC denied LLDAs motion to dismiss, and issued a writ of preliminary

injunction enjoining LLDA from enforcing the cease and desist order during the
pendency of the case.

The CA promulgated a decision that ruled that the LLDA has no power and
authority to issue a cease and desist order enjoining the dumping of garbage.

ISSUE:
1. Whether the LLDA has authority and power to issue an order which, in its
nature and effect was injunctive.
 RESOLUTION:

LLDA is mandated by law to manage the environment, preserve the quality of

human life and ecological systems and prevent undue ecological disturbances,
deterioration and pollution in the Laguna Lake area and surrounding provinces and
cities, including Caloocan. While pollution cases are generally under the Pollution
Adjudication Board under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, it
does not preclude mandate from special laws that provide another forum.

In this case, RA No. 4850 provides that mandate to the LLDA. It is mandated to
pass upon or approve or disapprove plans and programs of local government offices
and agencies within the region and their underlying environmental/ecological
repercussions. The DENR even recognized the primary jurisdiction of the LLDA over
the case when the DENR acted as intermediary at a meeting among the representatives
of the city government, LLDA and the residents.

Moreover, LLDA has the authority to issue the cease and desist order. Based on the
law, it explicitly authorizes the LLDA to make whatever order may be necessary in the
exercise of its jurisdiction. While LLDA was not expressly conferred the power to
issue an ex-parte cease and desist order in that language, the provision granting
authority to make () orders requiring the discontinuance of pollution, has the same
effect. Assuming arguendo that the cease and desist order was not expressly
conferred by law, there is jurisprudence enough to the effect. While it is a fundamental
rule that an administrative agency has only such power as expressly granted to it
by law, it is likewise a settled rule that an administrative agency has also such
powers as are necessarily implied in the exercise of its express powers. Otherwise,
it will be reduced to a toothless paper agency. In Pollution Adjudication Board vs
Court of Appeals, the Court ruled that the PAB has the power to issue an ex-parte
cease and desist order on prima facie evidence of an establishment exceeding the
allowable standards set by the anti-pollution laws of the country. LLDA has been
vested with sufficiently broad powers in the regulation of the projects within the
Laguna Lake region, and this includes the implementation of relevant anti-pollution
laws in the area.