Eighteenth Congress 
Second Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. _____ 
Introduced by 
REPRESENTATIVE LOREN B. LEGARDA 
AN ACT INSTITUTIONALIZING THE PHILIPPINE ECOSYSTEM AND NATURAL 
CAPITAL ACCOUNTING SYSTEM (PENCAS), MANDATING ITS USE IN POLICY 
AND DECISION-MAKING, DESIGNATING THE AGENCIES RESPONSIBLE FOR 
ITS 
IMPLEMENTATION, 
PROVIDING 
INSTITUTIONAL 
ARRANGEMENTS 
AMONG RESPONSIBLE AGENCIES, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFORE 
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES  
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
This bill seeks to institutionalize a Philippine Ecosystem and Natural Capital 
Accounting System (PENCAS) to reflect environmental inputs and outputs in the 
determination of national income accounts. 
The national income accounts are important indicators for determining the level of 
development of a country. Conventional national income accounting systems 
measure economic performance by determining the value of goods and services 
produced in a country and aggregating them to come up with indicators of economic 
development such as the Gross National Product (GNP) and Gross Domestic 
Product (GDP). The goods and services that are included in this accounting system 
are those that are “marketed”, the prices of which are the basis for estimating the 
value that are then included in computing economic indicators. This methodology 
thus reflects the goods and services produced, sold, and bought in the economy. 
However, the conventional methodology for computing national income accounts has 
its shortcomings. In the process of producing marketed goods and services, the 
natural environment generates goods and services that are utilized but are not 
valuated in the process of producing goods and services. Consumption benefits of 
amenities provided by the natural environment, waste disposal services, and 
pollution are part of producing marketed commodities but are not valuated (positively 
or negatively) and reflected in national income accounting. 
April 8, 2021
10:06 AM
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Indicators and standards generated by the national income accounting system are 
considered vital information for economic management and policymaking. They 
serve as basis for socio economic planning, formulation of development programs, 
and policy analysis in aid of legislation, among others. Thus, it is important that the 
national income accounts reflect a more accurate state of development and 
economic performance of the country. It should incorporate both environmental and 
non-environmental economic inputs and outputs for policymakers to make 
responsive, relevant and effective laws, plans and programs necessary for national 
development. 
In view of the foregoing, the urgent passage of this bill is earnestly sought. 
LOREN LEGARDA 


3 
Eighteenth Congress 
Second Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. _____ 
Introduced by 
REPRESENTATIVE LOREN B. LEGARDA 
AN ACT INSTITUTIONALIZING THE PHILIPPINE ECOSYSTEM AND NATURAL 
CAPITAL ACCOUNTING SYSTEM (PENCAS), MANDATING ITS USE IN POLICY 
AND DECISION-MAKING, DESIGNATING THE AGENCIES RESPONSIBLE FOR 
ITS 
IMPLEMENTATION, 
PROVIDING 
INSTITUTIONAL 
ARRANGEMENTS 
AMONG RESPONSIBLE AGENCIES, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFORE 
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES  
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in 
Congress assembled 
SEC. 1. Short Title. – This Act shall be known as the Philippine Ecosystem and Natural 
1 
Capital Accounting System (PENCAS) Law of 2021, which shall adhere to the United Nations 
2 
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA). 
3 
SEC. 2.  Declaration of Policy.  It is hereby declared the policy of the State to: 
4 
(a)
Promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, as
5 
provided in the Preamble of the Constitution, natural capital being the
6 
bedrock of the national patrimony;
7 
(b)
Develop a comprehensive information system and accounting framework
8 
that will take into consideration the role of our natural capital, consisting of
9 
both environmental and natural resources, and its impact on the country’s
10 
economy;
11 
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4 
(c) 
Include and institutionalize natural capital accounting as part of the national 
1 
income accounting system, strengthening and building on RA 10625 on 
2 
environmental accounts and statistics; 
3 
(d) 
Provide indicators that will facilitate the integration of environmental and 
4 
natural resource concerns in national development planning and policy 
5 
making, in allocation of budgets, and in designating statistics that will be 
6 
produced regularly for an identified period of analysis. 
7 
(e) 
Establish and improve interagency coordination for the purpose of linking 
8 
economic and environmental and natural resource information and efficient 
9 
data management among concerned agencies and their partner institutions 
10 
and establish an office to guide such coordination; and; 
11 
(f) 
Include nature’s pricelessness, its intrinsic value, and its interdependencies 
12 
in the implementation of the foregoing policies to consider that nature and 
13 
ecosystems have intrinsic rights to exist, with an end in view of recognizing 
14 
legal rights that serve to protect endangered ecosystems and applying the 
15 
precautionary principle, especially when economic values cannot be 
16 
estimated; 
17 
SEC. 3.  Definition of Terms. For purposes of this Act, the following terms are hereby 
18 
defined as follows: 
19 
(a) 
An ecosystem is a complex community of living organisms, their physical 
20 
environment, and all their interrelationships in a particular unit of space, and these 
21 
biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and 
22 
energy flows. 
23 
(b) 
Capital is a stock concept, which yields a periodic income, which is a flow 
24 
concept. 
25 


 
5 
(c) 
Natural capital is the concept of nature as a stock that provides a flow of 
1 
benefits to people and the economy. Natural capital consists of the stocks of natural 
2 
assets – both biotic and abiotic. It includes air, water, soil, minerals, forests, coral 
3 
reefs, seagrass beds, and all living things. It is from this natural capital that humans 
4 
derive a wide range of goods and services, which make human life possible. The 
5 
goods and services that natural capital provides, such as food, water, energy, or 
6 
climate regulation, are called ecosystem services. These provide people everywhere 
7 
with the means for healthy lives and underpin all economic activity. 
8 
(d) 
Ecosystem services are the flows of benefits, which people gain from natural 
9 
ecosystems, while natural capital consists of the stock of natural ecosystems or stock 
10 
of renewable and non-renewable natural resources from which these benefits flow.  
11 
(e) 
The United Nations System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) is 
12 
a framework that integrates both economic and environmental data to provide a 
13 
more comprehensive and multipurpose view of the interrelationships between the 
14 
economy, the environment and ecosystems, and the stocks and changes in stocks of 
15 
natural assets, as they bring benefits to humanity.  
16 
 
SEC. 4. Philippine Environmental and Natural Capital Accounting System (PENCAS).   
17 
A System of Environmental-Economic Accounting is hereby institutionalized within the 
18 
government bureaucracy.  The Philippine Environmental and Natural Capital Accounting 
19 
System (PENCAS) shall be based on the existing environmental accounting frameworks that are 
20 
covered by the UN SEEA and are theoretically correct and accepted as evaluated based on 
21 
international standards.  Among others, the PENCAS framework shall include a list of the 
22 
officially designated statistics on the depreciation of natural capital, environmental protection 
23 
expenditures, pollution and quality of land, air and sea,  environmental damages, and genuine 
24 
savings. It shall conform to and expound, expand and localize the UN SEEA.   A roadmap and 
25 


 
6 
manual for further development of these indicators for each of the terrestrial (land and 
1 
freshwater) and blue (marine) economies shall be formulated. The draft roadmap and 
2 
international manuals shall be customized to the ecosystems in the Philippine archipelago that 
3 
support the terrestrial (land and freshwater) and blue (marine) economies.  All these data shall 
4 
constitute the Philippines’ natural capital, the conservation of which shall be paramount. 
5 
SEC 5. Objectives of the PENCAS.  The PENCAS shall supplement the current System of 
6 
National Accounts and shall have the following major functions: 
7 
(a) To support economic-environmental policy development and decision-making; 
8 
(b) To generate the Philippine version of the UN SEEA satellite accounts covering both 
9 
the Central Framework and the Ecosystem Accounts;  
10 
(c) To serve as a comprehensive data framework in the generation of PENCAS 
11 
statistics; and; 
12 
(d) To ensure that ecosystems and habitats, especially the ones in critical danger of 
13 
irreparable damage, are conserved and restored, in line with the objectives and 
14 
timelines of key Multilateral Environmental Agreements, including the United 
15 
Nations Decade of Ecological Restoration and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable 
16 
Development. 
17 
SEC 6.  Involvement of Government Agencies.  The following agencies and the 
18 
concerned offices under or attached to them shall be involved in the establishment and 
19 
institutionalization of the PENCAS: 
20 
(a) 
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR); 
21 
(b) 
Department of Agriculture (DA); 
22 
(c) 
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA); 
23 
(d) 
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA);  
24 
(e) 
Department of Energy (DOE);  
25 
(f) 
Department of Tourism (DOT); 
26 
(g) 
Department of Transportation (DOTr); 
27 


 
7 
(h) 
Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), 
1 
(i) 
Department of Health (DOH); 
2 
(j) 
Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG); 
3 
(k) 
Department of Science and Technology (DOST); 
4 
(l) 
Department of Human Settlement Urban Development (DHSUD); 
5 
(m) 
National Water Regulatory Board (NWRB); and; 
6 
(n) 
Other agencies, as necessary 
7 
 
SEC 7.  Duties of Specific Bureaus within the Agencies.  The following Bureaus shall 
8 
have special mandates for natural capital accounting herein based on their primary functions: 
9 
(a) 
Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources; 
10 
(b) 
Bureau of Soils and Water Management; 
11 
(c) 
All Bureaus of the DENR, including the National Mapping and Resource 
12 
Information Authority (NAMRIA), and National Water Resources Board 
13 
(NWRB); 
14 
(d) 
National Renewable Energy Board (NREB); 
15 
(e) 
Research and Development Institutes and Science and Technology Services 
16 
of the DOST; 
17 
(f) 
Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA); 
18 
(g) 
Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice); 
19 
(h) 
National Irrigation Administration (NIA); 
20 
(i) 
Philippine 
Atmospheric, 
Geophysical 
and 
Astronomical 
Services 
21 
Administration (PAGASA); 
22 
(j) 
Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology; (PHIVOLCS) 
23 
 
Sec. 8. Creation of the Natural Capital Units.  Natural Capital units shall be created 
24 
within the organizational structure of the DENR, DA, PSA, NEDA, DOE, DOT, DOTr, DPWH, DTI, 
25 
DOH, DILG, DOST, DHSUD, and other agencies as necessary.  
26 


 
8 
The head of the Natural Capital Units in the foregoing government agencies should be at a 
1 
Division Chief or higher level.  The Department Head shall designate existing personnel within 
2 
the Department or hire new ones within its budget to operate its Natural Capital Unit. 
3 
SEC. 9.   Staffing Pattern for Natural Capital Units. The agencies concerned shall, as 
4 
much as practicable, utilize existing qualified employees for staffing the Natural Capital Units.  
5 
In case, however, of the lack of qualified employees who have the skills and capabilities required 
6 
of the functions of the Units, the concerned agency shall be allowed to include new plantilla 
7 
items in accordance with the prescribed procedures therefor. 
8 
 
SEC 10.   Functions of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).   The Natural Capital 
9 
Unit at the PSA shall have a pivotal role in the implementation of the PENCAS: 
10 
(a) 
Compile and collate PENCAS Accounts, and study and formulate viable 
11 
approaches and methodologies for the PENCAS; 
12 
(b) 
Formulate templates, guidelines and digital aids to ensure that all units, 
13 
especially local governments, generating PENCAS data do so in a manner 
14 
that can be efficiently consolidated, compared and analyzed, and ensure 
15 
public accessibility for these tools; 
16 
(c) 
Explore ways and means to modify and improve current environmental and 
17 
economic statistics, in coordination with the concerned data producers and 
18 
users, including those in the academe, private sector, and non-governmental 
19 
organizations;  
20 
(d) 
Include natural resource and environment-related questions in the PSA's 
21 
census and surveys, such as, but not limited to, Census of Establishments, 
22 
Annual Survey of Philippine Business and Industry, Family Income and 
23 
Expenditure 
Survey, 
Labor 
Force 
Survey, 
Survey 
on 
Tourism 
24 
Establishments, 
Surveys 
of 
Household 
and 
Establishment 
Energy 
25 
Consumption, Fisheries and Aquaculture Surveys, Agriculture, Livestock and 
26 


 
9 
Poultry surveys, Community-Based Monitoring System, etc and any surveys 
1 
these may change into or added to them. 
2 
(e) 
Collect data up to the fourth-digit level of the Philippine Standard for 
3 
Industrial Classification particularly for data needed in the ocean accounts, 
4 
and update the Input-Output and Supply and Use tables regularly. 
5 
(f) 
Develop a satellite account for the oceans, including ocean-based and ocean 
6 
related economic activities or sectors, coastal and marine ecosystems (e.g., 
7 
mangroves, seagrass, coral reefs, tidal flats, etc.), and marine water quality; 
8 
(g) 
Enhance the water accounts to include both water resources (quantity) and 
9 
water quality for surface water and groundwater (water asset account) and 
10 
water supply and use account, including water supply in relation to climate 
11 
trends 
or 
extreme 
climatic 
events 
in 
coordination 
with 
DENR 
12 
(Environmental Management Bureau and National Water Resources Board), 
13 
and DPWH (Bureau of Research and Standards);  
14 
(h) 
Update the Input-Output tables regularly, incorporating the PENCAS 
15 
accounts; and; 
16 
(i) 
Serve as repository of all PENCAS-related data and materials through the 
17 
National Statistical Information Center and make the PENCAS data available 
18 
on the PSA website;  
19 
SEC 11.   Natural Capital Units at National Agencies.  The Natural Capital Units at the 
20 
DENR, DA, NEDA, DILG, DOE, DOT, DOTr, DPWH, DTI, DOH, DILG, DOST, and DHUSD shall: 
21 
(a) 
Develop and apply, with its various offices, Attached Agencies, GOCCs, and 
22 
beneficiaries, the data collection, development and compilation of resource or natural 
23 
asset and ecosystem service accounts, environment and emission accounts and ocean 
24 
accounts, relevant to each agency’s mandates, and formulate viable data development 
25 
approaches and methodologies in coordination with PSA; 
26 
(b) 
Collaborate with the science community in conducting studies and research in 
27 


 
10 
support of policy development related to PENCAS; 
1 
(c) 
Ensure that sustainable development principles, especially regenerative resource 
2 
use / resource conservation and climate and environmental and indigenous 
3 
biodiversity considerations,  are integrated in all its bureaus and offices and in their 
4 
policy, national and project planning and implementation based on PENCAS results; 
5 
and Strengthen its statistical capabilities, especially regulatory monitoring, to provide 
6 
environmental and natural resources data and accounts to other national government 
7 
agencies, local government units, private sector, civil society, and other data users. 
8 
(d) 
Prioritize the data generation for the PENCAS accounts for the blue economy, 
9 
particularly for areas of national patrimony most in danger of exploitation and 
10 
appropriation, such as the West Philippine Sea and the Philippine Rise. 
11 
(e) 
Institutionalize open data for the studies and research in support of policy 
12 
development related to PENCAS;  
13 
 
The DILG shall assist the local governments in building capacity and performing the 
14 
above functions as far as they are able in order to build their own PENCAS accounts.  It shall also 
15 
consolidate local government data and statistics and compare these with the national accounts 
16 
as generated by the other agencies. 
17 
SEC 12.  Duties of Specific Bureaus within the Agencies.  The following Bureaus shall 
18 
have special mandates for natural capital accounting herein based on their primary functions: 
19 
a. 
 Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources 
20 
b. 
Bureau of Soils and Water Management 
21 
c. 
All Bureaus of the DENR, especially the National Mapping and Resource 
22 
Information Authority (NAMRIA) 
23 
d. 
National Renewable Energy Board (NREB) 
24 
e. 
Research and Development Institutes and Science and Technology Services 
25 
of the DOST; 
26 
f. 
Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA); 
27 


 
11 
g. 
Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice); 
1 
h. 
National Irrigation Administration (NIA); 
2 
i. 
National Water Resources Board (NWRB); 
3 
j. 
Philippine 
Atmospheric, 
Geophysical 
and 
Astronomical 
Services 
4 
Administration (PAGASA) 
5 
k. 
Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology; (PHIVOLCS) 
6 
SEC. 13.  Functions of the National Economic Development Authority and the NEDA 
7 
Board.   The Natural Capital Unit at the NEDA shall: 
8 
(a) 
Coordinate the conduct of consultations, orientations and training seminars 
9 
on the PENCAS and its implementation for the national government agencies, 
10 
local government units and other concerned institutions as well as on 
11 
request by the private sectors and civil society organizations, upon their 
12 
request;  
13 
(b) 
Coordinate the conduct of studies and research in support of policy 
14 
development related to PENCAS and provide training for non-governmental 
15 
entities on generating natural capital data and statistics; 
16 
(c) 
Establish a mechanism for integration of environmental and regenerative 
17 
resource conservation considerations in national, regional, local and sectoral 
18 
planning, policy, project development and implementation based on PENCAS 
19 
results, particularly assuring that legally extracted resources and energy are 
20 
sufficient for the plans for their sustainable use; 
21 
(d) 
Formulate and update indicators on the economy-environment interactions 
22 
and regenerative and sustainable development indices; 
23 
(e) 
Provide technical services to the (i) Presidential Commission on Natural 
24 
Capital, (ii) Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) for the 
25 
integration of environment, ecosystems, natural capital, and climate change 
26 
in macroeconomic planning and allocation of expenditures and capital 
27 


 
12 
outlays, (iii) Investments Coordinating Committee that would review 
1 
completeness of project-evaluation and ensure that it is inclusive of 
2 
economic benefits  and costs, sources  of proposed natural resources, risks 
3 
and uncertainty due to climate change, natural capital, environmental, 
4 
biodiversity and social safeguards, justification of use if nonrenewable 
5 
resource, and matching of natural capital supply and demand, and (iv) any 
6 
Task Forces or deputized or contracted entities, which the Presidential 
7 
Commission on Natural Capital may create or partner with for the 
8 
coordinated functioning of the data-generating agencies and quality 
9 
decision-making; and 
10 
(f) 
The NEDA Board and its instrumentalities shall ensure that PENCAS is 
11 
considered in all its policy decisions and project evaluation systems.  In order 
12 
to ensure this, the composition of the NEDA Board shall always include the 
13 
departments that generate the most crucial data on PENCAS accounts, such 
14 
as the DENR and DA. 
15 
SEC. 14.  Data and Research Support.    The PSA, in coordination with the involved 
16 
agencies, shall designate the required environment and economic statistics in the agencies and 
17 
bureaus that shall be responsible for generating such data.  The Department of Budget and 
18 
Management (DBM) shall ensure that such research and data management are supported so as 
19 
to prevent government spending that would unduly compromise PENCAS accounts and 
20 
ecosystem services or the deterioration of the national patrimony. 
21 
SEC. 15.  Creation of the Presidential Commission on Natural Capital Accounting.  A 
22 
commission is hereby created to ensure the fulfillment of the objectives of this law and 
23 
coordinate the performance of the functions of the agencies enumerated. It shall have the 
24 
following composition: 
25 
1. 
 The President or his appointee to the Commission as Chair; 
26 
2. 
An Economic statistician 
27 


 
13 
3. 
An Environment and Natural Resources Economist 
1 
4. 
A Terrestrial ecologist who shall ALSO cover freshwater ecosystems; 
2 
5. 
A Marine ecologist who shall cover coastal and marine ecosystems; 
3 
6. 
An Environmental Lawyer; 
4 
All Commissioners shall be appointed by the President from nominations by the 
5 
agencies or civil society conglomerations. 
6 
SEC 16.  Functions of the Commission. The Commission shall provide directions for the 
7 
coordinated functioning and implementation of the Natural Capital Units.  It shall create ad-hoc 
8 
or permanent inter-agency committees and task forces that will support the data and technical 
9 
requirements of the departments and their Natural Capital Units.  It shall ensure that the 
10 
officials as well as other instrumentalities of government have access to PENCAS data and 
11 
endeavor to ensure that such data is ARE used in policy and decision-making, taking care, 
12 
however, that security measures to prevent poaching or foreign intrusion that could impact on 
13 
our utilization and enjoyment of our natural resources. Designated Undersecretary level 
14 
officials in charge of policy and planning in their agencies shall represent the member agencies 
15 
for DENR, DA, DOE, DOT, DOTr, DPWH, DOST, DTI, DILG, DOH, DHUSD, NEDA and PSA in all 
16 
technical working groups constituted by the Commission. The Commission shall compile 
17 
existing surveys and data generation activities of all government agencies to ensure that the 
18 
information needed for generating the accounts are efficiently captured, including but not 
19 
limited to existing physical accounts and monetary accounts, data from Community-Based 
20 
Monitoring System, DENR’s Biodiversity Assessment and Monitoring System and Socio-
21 
Economic Assessment and Monitoring System, and monitoring data from projects, such as the 
22 
Wealth Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES), Environment Natural 
23 
Resource Accounting Project (ENRAP) and the National Greening Program, the Department of 
24 
Agriculture’s Ocean accounts, data submitted by license, permit and certification applicants, and 
25 
the like. 
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14 
SEC. 17.  Funding.  The creation and initial funding of the Commission shall be Php Two 
1 
Hundred Million Pesos to be sourced from excesses in funds, such as, the funds under RA 9147, 
2 
RA 8749 and similar special accounts, especially the ones that have remained dormant.  Two 
3 
Billion Pesos shall be apportioned by the Department of Budget and Management for the 
4 
performance of agency functions required herein for the generation of data through expeditions 
5 
and scientific investigations in the terrestrial/freshwater and marine disciplines.  Eight 
6 
Hundred Million shall be apportioned to the agencies for the creation and improvement of their 
7 
Natural Capital Units.  The apportionment and allocations shall be based on the plan and 
8 
priorities decided by the Commission in coordination with the agencies performing the 
9 
functions.  These shall be included in the budget preparation of each agency to be incorporated 
10 
in the annual general appropriations act under separate fund items.  
11 
SEC. 18.  Government Planning Mechanisms and the Environmental Impact 
12 
Assessment System.  In all government planning, considerations of PENCAS shall be included. In 
13 
the Environmental Impact Assessment System, the DENR shall ensure that the natural 
14 
environment, ecosystem services and natural capital are framed as opportunities, benefits or 
15 
assets as opposed to being merely a constraint or backdrop to absorb impacts.  The Commission 
16 
shall ensure a wide availability of tools, methods and skills that can support the consideration of 
17 
ecosystem services as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment and ensure the inclusion of 
18 
such in the development of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR), further including in 
19 
such rules accounting for activities that may degrade the natural capital considerably despite 
20 
not being under the coverage of the Philippine EIS System. 
21 
SEC. 19.  Role of the Local Government Units.  In their planning and local legislation 
22 
duties, local governments shall endeavor to create and populate PENCAS accounts, in 
23 
compliance with templates and guidelines from the PSA and DILG, and in addition, employ other 
24 
innovative measures and methods of resource valuation, damage estimation, ecosystem services 
25 
and natural capital accounting to highlight their ecological competitive edge. 
26 


 
15 
SEC. 20.  PENCAS in the Educational System.   The Department of Education (Deped) 
1 
shall cause the crafting of modules both in all levels of the formal as well as the non-formal 
2 
education spheres to ensure that all citizens, and especially the academe, are able to help change 
3 
the definition of economic success towards defining wealth inclusively, to generate, analyze and 
4 
use the PENCAS to its maximum effect and assess the systemic extent of Nature-related financial 
5 
risk.  The CHED shall include PENCAS in all curricula and the Deped shall ensure that PENCAS is 
6 
incorporated in current courses on these subjects with the objective of generating credible, 
7 
decision-grade data, which government, businesses and financial institutions and civil society 
8 
can use to fully integrate Nature-related considerations into their decision-making, and assess 
9 
and disclose their use of, and impact on, Nature.  The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) 
10 
shall ensure that PENCAS is included in all professional examinations. 
11 
              SEC. 21.    Rights of Nature.    Nothing in this Act shall be construed to mean that nature 
12 
has no intrinsic value separate and distinct from its economic value, or that it loses 
13 
interdependencies and pricelessness by such valuation.  Whenever data or accounts tend to 
14 
show that valuation of ecosystems or discrete and identified life-support mechanisms will 
15 
commodify and or degrade them, any citizen is authorized to submit a registration to the 
16 
Commission for the latter’s recognition of such intrinsic value and the right of such ecosystem 
17 
or mechanism to exist and maintain its integrity, which registration the Commission is required 
18 
to accept.  The generated data and accounts can still be used but only for the purpose of the 
19 
recognition of such rights rather than for commodification or ecologically unacceptable trade-
20 
offs. 
21 
              SEC. 22.  Participatory Mechanisms and Citizen Remedies.  Each Natural Capital Unit 
22 
shall institute consultative mechanisms, mass collaboration measures and digital comment and 
23 
recommendation 
solicitations 
to 
effectively 
popularize 
PENCAS 
and 
ensure 
wide 
24 
comprehensibility and usage of the accounts.  Any citizen shall have to right to information on 
25 
any accounts generated under this Act, have the standing to compel the performance of any of 
26 
the mandates under this Act, and seek justification from any government agency who may have 
27 


 
16 
ignored or neglected PENCAS data in their policy or decision-making.  Major PENCAS accounts, 
1 
results on nature’s wealth and the economic value of ecosystem services shall be released along 
2 
with all releases of national economic data, such as GNI, GDP and other often-released measures 
3 
of the state of the country’s economic health, and highlight the contribution of resources and 
4 
ecosystems to the economy, incomes and employment. 
5 
SEC. 23.  Implementing Rules and Regulations.  The Commission shall constitute an 
6 
interagency working group to craft the IRR and is hereby given the authority to adopt such IRR, 
7 
the adoption of which shall constitute its inclusion as part of the administrative rules and 
8 
regulations of all members of the Committee. 
9 
Sec. 23. Separability Clause. – If any provision of this Act is declared unconstitutional or 
10 
otherwise invalid, the validity of the other provisions shall not be affected thereby. 
11 
Sec. 25. Repealing Clause. – All other laws, decrees, orders, rules and regulations, other 
12 
issuances, or parts thereof inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or 
13 
modified accordingly. 
14 
Sec. 26. Effectivity. – This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in the 
15 
Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation. 
16 
Approved,
17