We are pleased to announce that our President, Mark Richard Evidente, has passed the 2014 Environmental Planning Licensure Examination to comply with the Environmental Planning Act of 2013. He placed second in the government-administered examination. He joins Maria Monica Edralin, one of our consultants, in the roster of environmental planners on our team.
The Environmental Planning Act of 2013 (Republic Act No. 10587) required under Section 5 that the "development of a site for a particular need or special purpose, such as economic or ecological zones [or] tourism development zones..." and the related preparation of "studies on (1) pre-feasibility, feasibility and other related concerns; (2) environmental assessments; and (3) institutional, administrative or legal systems" should be conducted by an environmental planner duly qualified and licensed with the Philippine Professional Regulatory Commission.
While the environmental planning profession was formally established in the Philippines in 1977 through Presidential Decree No. 1308, the scope of environmental planning was expanded in 2013 under the new law to specifically include "tourism development zones"and the supporting research for "environmental assessments, and studies for institutional, administrative or legal systems". As individuals, both Mr. Evidente and Ms. Edralin thus comply with the requirements of the law as regards tourism development planning.
Furthermore, it is worth noting that the definition of environmental planning itself is broad, effectively expanding the scope of services our professionals can offer our clients through TwoEco.
As stated in Section 4 of the new law, environmental planning, "also known as urban and regional planning, city planning, town and country planning, and/or human settlements planning, refers to the multi-disciplinary art and science of analyzing, specifying, clarifying, harmonizing, managing and regulating the use and development of land and water resources, in relation to their environs, for the development of sustainable communities and ecosystems."
Mark Richard Evidente has a masters in environmental management from Yale University, and law and political science degrees from the University of the Philippines. He has experience in tourism planning and policy, investment and corporate law, and environmental, social and cultural research.
Maria Monica Edralin has a masters in urban and regional planning from the University of the Philippines, and a degree in development studies from Ateneo de Manila University. She also holds a diploma in disaster risk reduction and management from the Ecole Polytechnique in Lausanne, Switzerland. She has experience in social, cultural and environmental research.
Further information on their and our other consultants' qualifications are linked here.
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