Manila, April 15 -- The Supreme Court (SC) en banc has upheld a 2017 Malacanang directive creating an office to fast-track energy projects of national significance (EPNS).

In a news release on Tuesday, the SC said it dismissed a petition filed by several citizen groups asking it to stop the implementation of Executive Order (EO) No. 30 through an Environmental Protection Order.

EO 30 establishes minimum guidelines to streamline and shorten the process of approving EPNS.

These include a presumption of prior approvals, which requires agencies to start processing permit applications right away, even if other permits are still pending with other agencies; a 30-day deadline to act on complete applications; and automatic approval if no actio...