LAGUNA LAKE DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY vs COURT OF APPEALS (Romero, 1994)

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 Court of Appeals 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.
The residents seek a review of the decision.

ISSUE
WoN the LLDA has authority and power to issue an order which, in its nature and effect was injunctive.
THEORY OF THE PARTIES
City Government of Caloocan: As a local government unit, pursuant to the general welfare provision of the Local Government
Code, they have the mandate to operate a dumpsite and determine the effects to the ecological balance over its territorial
jurisdiction.
LLDA: As an administrative agency which was granted regulatory and adjudicatory powers and functions by RA No. 4850, it is
invested with the power and authority to issue a cease and desist order pursuant to various provisions in EO No. 927.
RULING
YES.
1.

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.

2.

LLDA has the authority to issue the cease and desist order.
a. Explicit in the law.
4, par. (3) 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.

b.

Necessarily implied powers.

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 exparte 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.