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According to the World Bank (2009), though there are ample government laws and regulations regarding environmental protection and maintenance in the Philippines, there appears to be a controversy in the execution and reinforcement of these laws. World Bank (2009) identifies that the Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) management receives a meager share of the national budget. The DENR’s (Department of Environmental and Natural Resource) (main governmental organization involved in environmental sustainability) share of the national budget decreased from 1.2 % in the 1990s to 0.7% in 2005 (World Bank, 2009). Considering that the DENR is facing major environmental problems, this budget may not commensurate with the responsibilities it has to undertake to achieve its objectives of creating a more sustainable environment.
The above point of experiencing a lack of financial resources may be attributed to the country’s poor economic development and the pressing need to address seemingly more salient problems such as poverty (as highlighted in the page ‘Poverty’), poor GDP growth of the country and providing other essential facilities to the Filipinos such as good quality education. As such, the burden then falls on the government to allocate financial resources sensibly.