Monday, August 25, 2008
Cebuano lawyer to argue Manila Bay cleanup case
CEBUANO lawyer Antonio Oposa Jr. will be fighting in the Supreme Court to force government to clean up Manila Bay.
He and lawyer Sigfrid Fortun are scheduled this month to argue on a case to force the Philippine Government to clean Manila Bay.
The case is now close to 10 years.
In 1999, law students of the University of the Philippines, now lawyers, led residents of Manila Bay in filing a suit to order the government to clean up Manila Bay. The
case was filed in the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Cavite.
Named respondents were the Departments of Budget and Management, Education, Environment and Natural Resources, Health, Interior and Local Government, the Philippine Coast Guard, and Philippine National Police.
The suit was a bid to oblige the line agencies to conceptualize an action plan—complete with budget, tasking and timetable—in cleaning up Manila Bay, according to a press release environmental lawyer Gloria Estenzo-Ramos sent to Sun.Star Cebu.
Manila Bay is a 180,000-hectare body of water.
Those who filed the case said it is in a state of “heavy pollution.”
In 2002, the Cavite RTC ordered the respondents to clean up the Manila Bay, but the government appealed the case, calling it “political” in nature, which should not be subjected to “judicial intervention.”
The Court of Appeals, however, upheld the lower court decision, which led to the preparation of a detailed Manila Bay Cleanup Operation Plan. The government, however, appealed the case before the Supreme Court, through the Office of the Solicitor General.
Those who filed the case, meanwhile, also asked the court to monitor the cleaning up of Manila Bay. (JGA)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (August 25, 2008 issue)
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