On December 22, 2023, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued Executive Order No. 51 reinforcing the diversity and inclusion program, reconstituting the inter-agency committee on diversity and inclusion, and creating the special committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual (LGBTQIA+) affairs.
To strengthen the Philippine’s environment protection programs, the country’s laws provide that no entity shall operate any declared environmentally critical project or area without first securing an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC).
As part of the Philippine’s policy to ensure the country’s energy security and reduced reliance on imported fuel for the transportation sector, and to support electric vehicles (EVs) as an attractive and feasible mode of transportation – Republic Act (RA) No. 11697 or the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act (EVIDA) was enacted.
To encourage business enterprises to generate and sustain green jobs, the Philippine Green Jobs Act of 2016 provides that businesses enterprises shall enjoy generous incentives, namely: a special deduction from the taxable income equivalent to fifty percent (50%), and tax and duty free importation of capital equipment, both subject to certain conditions.
Republic Act (RA) No. 11898 amends Act No. 9003, or otherwise known as the “Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000”. According to the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), the EPR Act of 2022 aims to achieve plastic neutrality which is defined as “a system or its desired outcome where, for every amount of plastic product footprint created, an equivalent amount thereof is recovered or removed from the environment by the product producers through an efficient waste management system.
In the case of C.P. Reyes Hospital vs. Barbosa, G.R. No. 228357, April 16, 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that backwages due to the illegally dismissed probationary employees are not limited to the unexpired portion of the probationary period but cover the time when the compensation was withheld up to reinstatement.
In 2019, the Energy Virtual One-Stop Shop Act or Republic Act (RA) No. 11234 was signed into law. One of the notable points of the Act is the State’s policy to deliver efficient and effective power generation, transmission, and distribution projects, mainly through the creation of a “one-stop shop” to process proposals or applications of such power projects. This one-stop shop, which is supervised by the Department of Energy (DOE), is called the “Energy Virtual One-Stop Shop” or “EVOSS.”
The Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SETUP) is the flagship nationwide program of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), which aims to address the technological requirements and challenges faced by micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
On February 26, 2020, Executive Order No. 106 prohibiting the manufacture, distribution, marketing and sale of unregistered and/or adulterated electronic nicotine/non-nicotine delivery systems, heated tobacco products and other novel tobacco products, amending Executive Order No. 26 series of 2017 and for other purposes.
On April 30, 2015, the Department of Justice – Office of Cybercrime issued an advisory on online shopping fraud to inform online shoppers of the risks involved in dealing online, as well as to guide online shopping providers by providing a safe and secure online shopping environment, in the promotion of consumer welfare.
