From Talk to Tangibles: Setting the tone for Law Complex fora

In her opening remarks for the forum Trashing Paradise, Dean FCT called for ‘talk’ to end in tangibles. Touching on the contribution of the UP Law Center to national discourse, the Dean conceded the need for discussions on national issues, within academe, in order to raise public awareness; but, she said that such forums need to be turned/translated into action. She suggested that the Law Center could adopt focused projects through networking with government agencies and NGOs to demonstrate through model projects on how to resolve a given public interest issue.

Trashing Paradise was organized by IMLOS in response to the environmental crisis in Boracay and the drastic measures presently being undertaken by the Executive to fix the problem.  Dr Jay Batongbacal, Director of IMLOS, in providing an overview of the symposium, touched on earlier efforts of groups to promote eco-tourism in order to conserve the environment but which idea never really took off.

The topics discussed in the symposium were Philippine coastal tourism, marine pollution, and Law. Dean FCT called for a follow-up meeting after the event to consider forming a Task Force that would partner with the Law Center on “a doable model project” on environmental concerns.