The Department of Justice National Prosecution Service Special Projects Division (NPS-SPD), through the Technical Working Group on Environmental Crimes or the “Team Kalikasan”, spearheaded the third iteration of the Specialized Course for Prosecutors on the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System (3rd SCoPE) on October 15-17, 2024 in Clark, Pampanga.

The training course builds up on the fundamental course on the investigation and prosecution of environmental cases, with a particular focus on protected areas. It aims to enhance prosecutorial skills and knowledge in handling violations of Republic Act No. 11038 or the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 2018.

It also looks into the challenges in the prosecution of NIPAS cases and the possible courses of action to address these challenges.

The opening ceremony was attended by officials from the Department of Justice and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Hazel Decena Valdez gave the Opening Remarks while Mr. Thomas Kaluzny from the USAID Environmental Office gave his message of support for the project.

Likewise in attendance is the Chief of Party of the Research Triangle Institute – Sustainable Interventions for Biodiversity, Oceans, and Landscapes (RTI SIBOL), Katherine Wachala, and Law Enforcement Specialist Glenn Forbes.

The highlight of the 3-day training is the Mock Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) activity conducted in a protected area of Abucay, Bataan, wherein participants were immersed in crime scene search, identification, documentation, recovery and tagging of evidence.

Thereafter, case build-up exercises were conducted, which included expert witnesses from the Department of Environment and National Resources (DENR) Protected Areas Management Office of Bataan. This was followed by a mock trial where expert witnesses were presented on direct examination by prosecutors, alongside DENR lawyers.

The culminating activity followed with the awarding of certificates to 21 prosecutors and 3 DENR lawyers. The 3rd SCoPE training team was lead by Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Emmylou Bendanillo, with support from the NPS-SPD development partner, RTI-SIBOL.