ATTY. GRIZELDA “GERTHIE” MAYO-ANDA

Photo courtesy: Inquirer.net

Atty. Grizelda “Gerthie” Mayo-Anda, GBK 2024 Individual Awardee, is a lecturer at Palawan State University and an environmental lawyer. As a lecturer at Palawan State University, she has profoundly shaped the next generation of lawyers, emphasizing the critical role of environmental law and advocacy in their practice. 

As a lawyer, she took on large corporations that were devastating farmlands and fishing grounds, endangering the livelihoods of local farmers and fishermen. Among her most notable efforts was her challenge against Japanese-backed companies like Rio Tuba Nickel, Philphos, Lepanto, and PASAR. Working with like-minded allies, she helped establish the People’s Monitoring Team to hold mining companies accountable—a model that the government later adopted as the multi-sectoral monitoring team, now a key component of environmental impact assessments for large-scale projects. Her advocacy also extended to public health, particularly addressing mercury contamination near Honda Bay in Puerto Princesa City. Her scientific advisory team solidified the legal arguments she uses in court. The advisory team comprises experts in human ecology, agricultural technology, and marine biology for environmental investigative missions.

Among her recent work in environmental law was in 2017, when she tackled illegal structures within the mangrove forests of Puerto Princesa City, Palawan. Atty. Gerthie Mayo-Anda mobilized the national anti-environmental crime task force. The Environmental Legal Assistance Center (ELAC) provided legal support, which led to the demolition of the illegal structures. A year later, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources provided funds for mangrove rehabilitation in the San Manuel community, prompting the local government to commit to annual tree-planting initiatives in the area.