Thursday, May 01, 2008 Lawyer of whales says OSG ignored issue in complaint
AN ENVIRONMENTAL lawyer yesterday decried the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) for saying dolphins and other marine mammals could not file cases.
This developed after the OSG petitioned for the dismissal of a suit seeking to halt oil exploration by the Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. Ltd. (Japex) in the Tañon Strait, off the seawaters of Pinamungajan and Aloguinsan towns in Cebu.
Named respondents were Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Angelo Reyes, DENR Secretary Jose L. Atienza, Department of Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap, DENR 7 Director Leonardo R. Sibbaluca, and the Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. Ltd., (Japex) as represented by its Philippine agent, Supply Oilfield Services.
Lawyer Liza Osorio told radio dyLA that the OSG did not confirm nor deny the “imminent danger” posed by the oil drilling.
Environment
She, however, was not surprised by the OSG petition.
The OSG simply mentioned the legality of their case, not the environmental issues they cited, she said.
The OSG, in its comment filed with the Supreme Court (SC) stated that only natural and juridical persons or authorities are supposed parties in a petition.
“In the present case, however, the marine mammals are obviously neither natural nor juridical persons. In fact, the petition itself quite absurdly alleges that the marine mammals can sue but cannot be sued. This only highlights the fact that the marine mammals cannot be parties in a civil action, such as the present case,” the OSG was quoted in a report.
A team from the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-National Environment Action Team (IBP-Neat), headed by lawyer Dante Ramos, flew to Manila last December to file petitions to stop the drilling before the SC.
Personalities
The petitioners were listed as resident marine mammals of the Tañon Strait protected seascape, such as toothed whales, dolphins, porpoises and other cetacean species.
According to the OSG, Osorio and lawyer Gloria Ramos, representing the IBP-Neat, failed to present “legal personalities” of marine mammals.
Ramos and Osorio are suing on behalf of the marine mammals as their “legal guardians.”
Osorio said the OSG did not “comprehensively and squarely” answer the petition.
Discussion
She said the OSG merely focused on the welfare of fishes when their petition likewise discussed the risk of oil drilling on marine mammals.
Osorio said environmental issue is above all other provisions of the law.
Despite the OSG petition, she said they will just let the High Tribunal decide on the IBP-Neat petition.
And while it maybe true that there is no precedent in the country regarding their petition, she said there were cases around the world where mammals were given “legal personalities.”
Should the SC acknowledges such, it would be a “landmark decision,” she said.
Osorio said the issues they raised were “substantive questions” that gave dolphins personalities to sue the concerned government officials. (GMD)
