Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno rallied the more than 500 women magistrates in the country Thursday to equip themselves with the latest techniques that would enable them to effectively resolve environmental cases.

In his message to the participants of the annual convention of the Philippine Women Judges Association, Inc. (PWJA) held at the historic landmark Manila Hotel, Chief Justice Puno said the courts can do their share in addressing environmental degradation by giving priority to cases involving environmental law violations.

“The Role of Lady Magistrates in the Protection of the Environment” is this year’s theme of the PWJA convention. PWJA has a total of 569 members.

“I urge our esteemed lady justices and judges to continue to equip themselves with a commanding armor of the emerging substantive body of environmental law especially considering the depth and breadth of contemporary issues,” the Chief Justice said.

He also urged them “to be creative and to forget their fears even when they find themselves in some unfenced spaces of our environmental law.”

Believing that environmental degradation is the biggest threat facing the planet, Puno said “measures should be undertaken to immediately arrest the declining state of our national environment.”