EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
)
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
)
First Regular Session 
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Senate
of tljf St’crflaiT
SENATE
20 MAY -4
Introduced by Senator Grace Poe
AN ACT
CREATING A PHILIPPINE POLLUTANT RELEASE AND TRANSFER REGISTRY
Explanatory Note
The 1987 Constitution provides the overarching framework for 
environmental policy in the Phiiippines. Section 16, Article 2 states: "The State 
shall protect and advance the right of the people to a balanced and healthful 
ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature." Various statutes also 
embody the environmental policy of the country: the Philippine Environmental 
Policy (1997) (P.D. No. 1151), the Philippine Environment Code (1977) (P.D. No. 
1152), the Phiiippine National Strategy for Sustainable Development (1989), and 
the National Action Plan for Sustainable Development (1996) (Philippine Agenda 
21).
The Phiiippines is also signatory to a number of international treaties and 
agreements on environmental protection and reguiation. This include the 1972 
Stockholm Declaration; the 1992 Rio Declaration; the United Nations Framework 
Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol; The Montreal Protocol on 
Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer; The Stockholm Convention on 
Persistent Organic Pollutants; the Convention on Biological Diversity; and the 
Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous 
Wastes and their Disposal.
These various treaties and agreements are binding obligations on the 
country. It is therefore the legal duty of the Philippines to comply with its 
international obligations in order to protect and conserve the environment.


The global community has long recognized the significance of Pollution 
Release and Transfer Registries as a tool for environmental regulation and 
management. It is developed in response to the increased chemicals and other 
wastes polluting our environment. It essentiaily provides publicly accessible data 
about quantities of releases or transfers of a set of potentially harmful 
substances, the origin of these releases and transfers and their geographic 
distribution on a timely, regular periodic basis. The overall goal is to augment
government efforts to integrate environmental management and promote 
pollution prevention.
This bill thus seeks to establish a Philippine Pollutant Release and Transfer 
Registry (PPRTR). It aims to provide timely, relevant, and comprehensible data to 
the general public to support the identification and assessment of possible risks 
to humans and the environment by indicating sources and amounts of potentially 
harmful releases and transfers to the environment and to minimize their effects 
on the environment. This will prevent pollution and the release or pollutants from 
various sectors by encouraging the implementation of cleaner technologies and 
to help the private sector to comply with environmental rules and regulations.
This bill is based on the work of Greenpeace and Dean Antonio La Vina of 
the Ateneo School of Government.
In view of the foregoing, speedy approval of this bill is eagerly sought.
GRACE POE


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EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session
)
SEN
s. noNALT4^1
®aice o( tljf ^lUftaip
20 MAY -4
Introduced by Senator Grace Poe
RECEiVLO BV .
AN ACT
CREATING A PHILIPPINE POLLUTANT RELEASE AND TRANSFER REGISTRY
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Republic of the 
Philippines in Congress assembled:
Section 1. Short Tide. - This Act shall be known as the "Philippine Pollutant 
Release and Transfer Registry Act"
SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. - It shall be the policy of the State to:
a) Protect and advance the right of the people to a balanced and healthful 
ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature, and to protect 
and promote the people's right to health, and to attain and maintain a 
balance between development and environmental protection;
b) Maintain a quality of air that protects human health and welfare;
c) Pursue economic growth in a manner consistent with the protection,
preservation, and revival of the quality of our fresh, brackish and marine 
waters;
d) Regulate, restrict, or prohibit the importation, manufacture, processing, 
sale and distribution, use and disposal of chemical substances and 
mixtures that present unreasonable risk and/or injury to health or the 
environment;
e) Adopt a systematic, comprehensive and ecological solid waste 
management program which shall ensure the protection of public health 
and the environment;


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f) Adopt and implement full public disclosure of all its transactions involving 
public interest, and to promote a transparent, open, and participatory 
environmental management regime; and
g) Ensure that information on the health and safety of humans and the 
environment shall not be regarded as confidential, but shall protect trade 
secrets and other confidential information.
Sec. 3. Applicable and Related Laws, Rules, and Regulations. - The following 
laws and their pertinent rules and regulations shall be applicable and taken into 
account in the implementation of the Philippine Pollutant Release and Transfer 
Registry (PPRTR):
a) 
Republic Act No. 6969 otherwise known as the Toxic Substances and 
Hazardous and Nuclear Waste Control Act of 1990;
b) Republic Act No. 8749 otherwise known as the Philippine Clean Air Act of 
1999;
c) 
Republic Act No. 9275 otherwise known as the Philippine Clean Water Act 
of 2004;
d) Republic Act No. 9003 otherwise known as the Ecological Solid Waste 
Management Act of 2000; and
e) All other environmental laws, rules, and regulations as may be relevant to 
the implementation of the PPRTR, including, but not limited to multilateral 
and bilateral health and environmental agreements to which the 
Philippines is a party to;
Sec. 4. Scope and Coverage. - The PPRTR shall cover all forms of pollutants 
and hazardous and toxic chemicals, and all forms of emissions and discharges in the 
environment, whether in the air, water, or soil by all facilities and industries 
operating in the Philippines, subject to the guidelines and procedures of the PPRTR 
on the disclosure requirement for facilities and industries.
Sec. 5. Objectives. - The objectives of the PPRTR are:
1. To provide timely, relevant, accessible, and comprehensible data to the 
general public to support the identification and assessment of possible 
risks to humans and the environment by indicating sources and amounts


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mean:
of potentially harmful releases and transfers to the environment and to 
minimize its effects on the environment;
2. To simplify and rationalize information gathering about the emission and 
transfer of individual chemicals and wastes to different media, as well as 
the reporting requirements which the industry has to comply;
3. To prevent pollution and the release of pollutants from various sources by 
encouraging the implementation of cleaner technologies and to help the 
private sector comply with environmental rules and regulations;
4. To evaluate the progress of government environmental policies on 
pollution control and prevention and to assess to what extent national 
environmental goals can be achieved;
5. To increase the involvement of the private sector in pollution control and 
prevention, in research and development of clean production and green 
chemistry, and in environmental management to achieve sustainable 
development; and
6. To improve the quality of air, water, and land resources through the use 
of data and information collected in the system.
Sec. 6. Definition of Terms. - As used in this Act, the following terms shall
a) 
Poiiutant reiease and transfer registry (PRTR) - are catalogues or 
registries of potentially harmful poiiutant releases or transfers to the 
environment from a variety of sources, including information on the nature 
and quantity of such releases and transfers. It includes information about 
releases or transfers to air, water and soil as well as about wastes transported 
to treatment and disposal sites. It is a means for obtaining regular, periodic 
information about releases and/or transfers of chemical substances of interest 
and for making this information accessible to those who may be interested 
and/or affected by it; it is a tool for promoting efficient and effective policies 
for environmental protection and sustainable development.
b) 
Emission - emission of a substance to the environment whether in pure 
form or contained in other matter and whether in solid, liquid or gaseous 
form. It includes emissions from landfills, incinerators, waste management


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and other disposal facilities, concrete kilns, sewerage systems, tailings dams, 
and other industrial facilities.
c) Air pollution - any alteration of the physical, chemical and biological 
properties of the atmospheric air, or any discharge thereto of any liquid, 
gaseous or solid substance that will or is likely to create or to render the air 
resources of the country harmful, detrimental, or injurious to public health, 
safety and welfare or which will adversely affect their utilization for domestic, 
commercial or industrial, agricultural, recreational or other legitimate 
purposes.
d) 
Water pollution - any alteration of the physical, chemical, biological, 
radiological properties or a body of water resulting in the impairment or its 
purity or quality, or is hazardous or potentially hazardous to health.
e) 
Hazardous wastes - substances that arc without any safe commercial, 
industrial, agricultural or economic usage and by-products, side-products, 
process residues, spent reaction, media, contaminated plant or equipment or 
other substances from manufacturing operations, and as consumer discards 
from manufactured products.
0 Hazardous substances/ chemicals - are substances which present either: 
1) short term acute hazards, such as acute toxicity by ingestion, inhalation or 
skin absorption, corrosivity or other skin or eye contact hazard or the risk of 
fire or explosion; or 2) long term environmental hazards, including chronic 
toxicity upon repeated exposure, carcinogenicity (which may in some cases 
result from acute exposure but with a long latent period), resistance to 
detoxification process such as biodegradation, the potential to pollute 
underground or surface waters, or aesthetically objectionable properties such 
as offensive odors. It is a chemical for which there is statistically significant 
evidence (based on at least one study conducted according to established 
scientific principles) that acute or chronic health effects may occur, 
g) Solid waste - all discarded household, commercial waste, non-hazardous 
institutional and industrial waste, street sweepings, construction debris, 
agricuitural waste, and other non-hazardous and non-toxic waste.


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h) 
Green chemistry- also known as sustainable chemistry, is the design of 
chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use of 
generation of hazardous substances.
i) 
Clean production - is a preventive, integrated, continuous strategy for 
modifying products, processes, and services, to enhance efficiency which 
improves environmental performance and reduces costs.
Sec. 7. Lead Implementing Agency. - The Environmental Management 
Bureau (EMB) shall be the lead/ implementing agency for the PPRTR. The EMB 
shall create a special unit, the PPRTR Office (PPRTRO), whose sole function shall 
implement the provisions of this Act.
The PPRTRO shall be headed by an Executive Director and shall be assisted 
by competent staff to be determined based on the exigency of the circumstances. 
The PPRTRO shall be created and established within three (3) months from the 
effectivity of this Act.
Sec. 8. Powers and Functions of the PPRTR Office. - The PPRTRO shall have 
the following powers and functions:
a) 
Conduct an assessment of existing infrastructure for the full 
implementation of the PPRTR;
b) 
Conduct information and dissemination campaigns as regards the 
PPRTR, from inception to its implementation stages;
c) 
Collect, manage, sort and make available to the general public the data 
and information collected in the system in an effective, efficient, accessible 
and timely manner;
d) 
Maintain a database of covered industries, facilities, and establishments;
e) 
Issue reports and updates regarding the PPRTR for the general public;
0 Conduct research and studies on pollution control, prevention, and 
mitigation and on green chemistry and clean production;
g) 
Coordinate with other government agencies and the private sector for 
the effective and efficient implementation of the PPRTR;
h) 
Issue guidelines for the implementation of the PPRTR;
I) Conduct periodic assessments of the PPRTR system and make 
recommendations for the improvement of the same; and


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j) Perform such other powers and functions as may be designated by the
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Secretary of Environment and Naturai Resources.
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Sec. 9. Guidelines and Procedure Implementing the PPRTR. - The guideiines
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and procedure impiementing the PPRTR shaii be issued by the Secretary of
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Environment and Natural Resources within six (6) months from the date of the
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effectivity of this Act.
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A Technical Working Group (TWG) is hereby constituted to formulate the
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guidelines and procedure to establish the PPRTR. The TWG shall be supported by
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the PPRTRO. The necessary Special Orders (SO) shall be issued to constitute the
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TWG.
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The TWG shall be composed of at least seven (7) members representing
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various government agencies such as the Department of Health (DOH), Department
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of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI),
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Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC), Department of the
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Interior and Local Government (DILG), and Department of Agriculture (DA) among
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others, the private sector and industries, non-government and civil society
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organizations, local government units (LGUs), and the academe, who shall be
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designated and appointed by the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources.
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The Secretary shall ensure that sufficient environment and health experts,
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and frontline community members, are represented in the TWG.
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Sec. 10. Contents of the Guidelines and Procedure Implementing the PPRTR.
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- The guidelines and procedure shall contain, but not be limited to the following
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information:
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a) List and schedule of covered substances, chemicals and pollutants, and
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their classification;
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b) List of covered facilities, establishments and industries;
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c) Procedure and method of obtaining, reporting, and disseminating
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information;
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d) 
Procedure for citing non-compliant and violating facilities; and
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e) 
Guidelines to ensure accessible, timely, relevant and accessible public
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access to information on the PPRTR, taking into account the right of


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businesses and industries to the protection of trade secrets and other 
intellectual property and related rights.
The information indicated in this provision shall be modified accordingly in 
consonance with international developments and evolving practices related but not 
limited to pollution control, prevention and mitigation, green chemistry, and clean 
production, based on researches, studies, international laws, treaties and 
conventions, jurisprudence, and the like.
Sec. 11. Pilot Test of the PPRTR. — The Department of Environment and 
Natural Resources (DENR) and the EMB shall identify areas where the PPRTR shall 
first be implemented for the first reporting year. The areas shall be chosen on the 
basis of the availability of current pollution data and information, private sector 
cooperation and participation, and availability of needed infrastructure.
The pilot areas shall be as far as practicable in different regions and locations 
and which would be representative of the general conditions in the rest of the 
country.
The pilot test shall be conducted within three (3) months from compiiance 
with Section 9 of this Act.
Sec. 12. Penalties. - Businesses that fail to comply with the requirements of 
this Act shall suffer a fine of not less than FIFTY THOUSAND PESOS (P50,000.00) 
but not more than ONE MILLION PESOS (P1,000,000.00) and suspension of their 
license to operate for one (1) month for the first offence and and their license to 
operate may also be revoked.
Sec. 13. Transitory Provisions. - Existing inventories, records and listings of 
pollutants, chemicals, and substances as provided for in other laws, rules and 
regulations, such as but not limited to the Priority Chemicals List (PCL) of the DENR, 
shall be taken into consideration in the formulation of the list and schedules or the 
PPRTR.
Data and information in existing inventories, records, and listings shall be 
included in the initial list of the PPRTR, provided that all the chemicals in the PCL of 
the DENR shall be used as the initial list of the system. The consolidation shall be 
completed within one (1) year from the date of effectivity of this Act.


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Monitoring, data collection and listing, and inventories, conducted and
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managed by other units and offices of the DENR and other relevant government
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agencies shall continue, subject to the guidelines and procedure as prescribed by
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Section 9 of this Act, on the mandatory sharing and forwarding of information to the
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PPRTR system.
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Sec. 14. Funding. - Upon the effectivity of this Act, the EMB shail ailocate
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from their existing funds such amounts as may be necessary for the additional
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funding requirements that may be needed by the PPRTR, subject to the usual
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government accounting and auditing rules and regulations.
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In the year following the effectivity of this Act and in subsequent years
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thereafter, the operational funds and expenses of the PPRTR shall be provided for in
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the annual budget of the DENR. Provided the Secretary of Environment and
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Natural Resources may allocate additional funding for the PPRTR as the
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circumstances and exigencies may require.
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Sec. 15. Separabiiity Ciause. - If any provision, or part hereof is held invalid
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or unconstitutional, the remainder of the iaw or the provision not otherwise affected
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shall remain valid and subsisting.
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Sec. 16. Repeaiing Ciause. - Any law, presidential decree or issuance,
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executive order, letter of instruction, administrative order, rule or regulation contrary
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to or inconsistent with, the provisions of this Act is hereby repealed, modified, or
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amended accordingly.
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Sec. 17. Effectivity Ciause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) clays after
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its publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation.
Approved,