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    Resident Marine Mammals v. Reyes Resident Marine Mammals of The Protected Seascape Tanon Strait V. Sec. Angelo Reyes

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    Randy Abante
    The Supreme Court of the Philippines consolidated two cases challenging the legality of a service contract awarded to JAPEX to conduct oil exploration in the protected Tañon Strait. While recognizing the trend towards greater access to courts in environmental cases, the Court declined to grant legal standing to resident marine mammals. However, any Filipino citizen can bring suit as a steward of nature to enforce environmental laws. The Court declared the service contract null and void for being unconstitutional, as it was not signed by the President and reported to Congress as required. Additionally, the contract violated the NIPAS Act by starting seismic surveys before an environmental assessment and by authorizing resource exploitation in a protected area without Congressional approval.

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    Resident Marine Mammals v. Reyes Resident Marine Mammals of The Protected Seascape Tanon Strait V. Sec. Angelo Reyes

    Uploaded by

    Randy Abante
    31 views2 pages
    The Supreme Court of the Philippines consolidated two cases challenging the legality of a service contract awarded to JAPEX to conduct oil exploration in the protected Tañon Strait. While recognizing the trend towards greater access to courts in environmental cases, the Court declined to grant legal standing to resident marine mammals. However, any Filipino citizen can bring suit as a steward of nature to enforce environmental laws. The Court declared the service contract null and void for being unconstitutional, as it was not signed by the President and reported to Congress as required. Additionally, the contract violated the NIPAS Act by starting seismic surveys before an environmental assessment and by authorizing resource exploitation in a protected area without Congressional approval.

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    The Supreme Court of the Philippines consolidated two cases challenging the legality of a service contract awarded to JAPEX to conduct oil exploration in the protected Tañon Strait. While recognizing the trend towards greater access to courts in environmental cases, the Court declined to grant legal standing to resident marine mammals. However, any Filipino citizen can bring suit as a steward of nature to enforce environmental laws. The Court declared the service contract null and void for being unconstitutional, as it was not signed by the President and reported to Congress as required. Additionally, the contract violated the NIPAS Act by starting seismic surveys before an environmental assessment and by authorizing resource exploitation in a protected area without Congressional approval.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    31 views2 pages

    Resident Marine Mammals v. Reyes Resident Marine Mammals of The Protected Seascape Tanon Strait V. Sec. Angelo Reyes

    Uploaded by

    Randy Abante
    The Supreme Court of the Philippines consolidated two cases challenging the legality of a service contract awarded to JAPEX to conduct oil exploration in the protected Tañon Strait. While recognizing the trend towards greater access to courts in environmental cases, the Court declined to grant legal standing to resident marine mammals. However, any Filipino citizen can bring suit as a steward of nature to enforce environmental laws. The Court declared the service contract null and void for being unconstitutional, as it was not signed by the President and reported to Congress as required. Additionally, the contract violated the NIPAS Act by starting seismic surveys before an environmental assessment and by authorizing resource exploitation in a protected area without Congressional approval.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    Resident Marine Mammals v.

    Reyes

    RESIDENT MARINE MAMMALS OF THE PROTECTED SEASCAPE TANON STRAIT v. SEC. ANGELO REYES,
    G.R. No. 180771 & GR No. 181527

    FACTS:

    Two sets of petitioners filed separate cases challenging the legality of Service Contract No. 46 (SC-46)
    awarded to Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. (JAPEX). The service contract allowed JAPEX to conduct oil
    exploration in the Tañon Strait during which it performed seismic surveys and drilled one exploration
    well.

    The first petition was brought on behalf of Resident Marine Mammals in the Tañon Strait by two
    individuals acting as legal guardians and stewards of the marine mammals.

    The second petition was filed by a non-governmental organization representing the interests of
    fisherfolk, along with individual representatives from fishing communities impacted by the oil
    exploration activities. The petitioners filed their cases in 2007, shortly after JAPEX began drilling in the
    strait.

    In 2008, JAPEX and the government of the Philippines mutually terminated the service contract and oil
    exploration activities ceased. The Supreme Court consolidated the cases for the purpose of review.

    ISSUE:

    Reviewing the numerous claims filed by the petitioners, the Supreme Court narrowed them down to
    two: 1) whether marine mammals, through their stewards, have legal standing to pursue the case;

    and

    2) whether the service contract violated the Philippine Constitution or other domestic laws.

    HELD:

    As to standing, the Court declined to extend the principle of standing beyond natural and juridical
    persons, even though it recognized that the current trend in Philippine jurisprudence “moves towards
    simplification of procedures and facilitating court access in environmental cases. Instead, the Court
    explained, “the need to give the Resident Marine Mammals legal standing has been eliminated by our
    Rules, which allow any Filipino citizen, as a steward of nature, to bring a suit to enforce our
    environmental laws.

    The Court declared Service Contract (SC-46) as null and void. Section 2 Article XII of the 1987
    Constitution requires a service contract for oil exploration and extraction to be signed by the president
    and reported to congress. For the reason that the JAPEX contract was executed solely by the Energy
    Secretary, and not reported to the Philippine congress, the Court held that it was unconstitutional.

    In addition, the Court also ruled that the contract violated the National Integrated Protected Areas
    System Act of 1992 (NIPAS Act), which generally prohibits exploitation of natural resources in protected
    areas. In order to explore for resources in a protected area, the exploration must be performed in
    accordance with an environmental impact assessment (EIA). The Court noted that JAPEX started the
    seismic surveys before any EIA was performed; therefore its activity was unlawful.

    Furthermore, the Tanon Strait is a NIPAS area, and exploration and utilization of energy resources can
    only be authorized through a law passed by the Philippine Congress. Because Congress had not
    specifically authorized the activity in Tañon Strait, the Court declared that no energy explora tion should
    be permitted in that area.

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