Greenpeace wins in trespassing case filed by Cebu province

Saturday, January 28, 2012

CEBU CITY -- Manila-based environment advocates were acquitted Friday of a trespassing charge the Cebu Provincial Government filed after the group entered a beachfront property.

“We take this as a triumph for the environment and freedom of expression,” said Dante Ramos, counsel for the Greenpeace members.

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In a four-page decision, Naga City Municipal Trial Court Judge Gerardo Gestopa found no basis to hold the Greenpeace members — Amalie Conchelle H. Obusan, Norineal Gamalinda Tolibas and Christine Garnace — liable for trespassing at the former Balili beach resort in Barangay Tinaan, Naga City.

The activists entered the property on December 1, 2009 to protest against the operation of coal-fired power plants that produce coal ash.

Protest

The property in question is the 24.7-hectare beach resort the Provincial Government bought for P98.9 million in 2008 from the late Engr. Luis Balili.

The Balili property is the site of the Province-owned secured coal ash landfill that was constructed as part of an agreement on coal ash disposal with Kepco-Salcon Power Corp. (KSPC).

An existing temporary environmental protection order or Tepo, issued by Mandaue City Regional Trial Court Judge Marilyn Lagura-Yap in March last year, prohibited the use of the said landfill and other sites not covered by a court order.

“This is a very strong signal for Greenpeace and other environmentalists na ipadayon ang ilang kausa (to continue what they’re doing). At least we know justice works, at least in this part of Cebu,” he added.

Obusan, one of the respondents, voiced hope that the decision would encourage other environment protection advocates to continue their work.

Encouragement

“Dako ni na encouragement, na inspiration na dili mahadlok og ipadayon sa ilang advocacy (This is a major source of encouragement and inspiration for advocates not to be afraid),” she said.

Obusan also told Sun.Star Cebu that the organization’s campaign against the operation of coal-fired power plants would continue, as well as efforts to promote development of renewable sources of energy.

The promulgation of the judgment Friday only took a few minutes as the court interpreter was allowed to read only the last paragraph of the decision.

Lawyer Rose Arnado, representing the Provincial Government, was surprised by the outcome.

“We were able to convince the judge that they violated property rights. When you go through the decision, it is very heartbreaking, because it actually is about a technicality,” she told reporters.

Gestopa, in his decision, said the information filed by the complainant at the start of the case failed to meet the elements of trespassing.

These are: that the offender is any person, that he enters the closed premises or the fenced estate of another, that the closed premises or fenced estate are uninhabited and that the prohibition to enter is manifest and the trespasser has not secured the permission of the owner or the caretaker.

Technical

“The information does not allege that the Balili beach resort is a closed premises or a fenced estate; neither does it allege that the place is a dwelling,” Judge Gestopa wrote.

Arnado said a motion for reconsideration will be filed.

She underscored that the government supports environmental protection, which is the advocacy of the accused Greenpeace members.

“This is really not about Greenpeace. We join Greenpeace in protecting the environment. But the thing with it is, we also have property rights, which we felt were violated,” she said.

Ramos, who is also counsel for the Philippine Earth Justice Center Inc. (PEJC), explained that the trespassing case at the Balili property is closely related with the ongoing coal ash case at the Mandaue RTC.

“There is really no direct connection between this case and that (coal ash case). But they are closely related,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.

The decision reinforces the principle that the right of the people to health and a balanced ecology, he added, prevails over property rights. (Sun.Star Cebu)