This is a series of 3 articles, each with slightly different nuances. The pollution of Manila Bay drops several cubic yards of floating rubbish on Corregidor's beaches every day. It is a real problem, and presents a shame upon the tide. There is so much garbage being washed up in the vicinity of Infantry Cavalry, North and East Points, a number of garbage collectors have taken up residing there. CFI should be active in its support of the steps being taken in enforcement of the Court Orders, lest they might be thought of as being of no important consequence.
ARTICLE 1Manila Bay warrior wins SC nod Dream come true for environmental law professorBy Alcuin Papa
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 06:28:00 01/02/2009MANILA, Philippines—For the lawyer and law professor who filed the case to clean up the Manila Bay, his recent victory in the Supreme Court is a dream come true.
“This 10-year saga started as a dream to see the bay clean again. Now, I will see the fulfillment of this dream,” said Antonio Oposa, a professor at the University of the Philippines College of Law.
Oposa, a longtime resident of Imus, Cavite, one of the provinces bordering the bay, saw firsthand the deterioration of the Manila Bay.
In 1999, he decided to do something about it. That year, he filed a case before the regional trial court in Imus to compel government agencies to clean up the bay.
The case was elevated to the high court. And last Dec. 18, after nine years of legal work, the Supreme Court ordered the government to immediately clean up the bay.
For Oposa, 54, the dream started in the late 1990s when he came across a study that showed that if the bay was properly cared for, “it could feed Metro Manila with enough fish. The bay has recreational value and is a national treasure.”
OutrageHowever, stakeholders, including some local officials, “ignored the problem, they couldn’t care less. No one was interested in cleaning up the bay.”
According to the study, there were almost one million units of fecal matter per cubic meter in the waters of Manila Bay, way above the normal level of 20 units. The environmentalist in Oposa was outraged and he decided to take matters into his own hands.
“I am just a lawyer and I tell my story through the law. I thought that this needed to be brought to the attention of the public and the concerned government agencies,” he said.
He brought the issue to his students in environmental law at the UP and they agreed to help and stand as plaintiffs.
Oposa said he wanted to include his students in the suit “so there is representation from the youth. I wanted to make it symbolic.” He also included his then 3-month-old son, Jaime Agustin, in the list of plaintiffs.
Discovery of little-known lawAs the years went by, Oposa’s students graduated and he was left to fight the battle alone. Fortunately, he was able to get the help of lawyer Sigfrid Fortun.
Oposa said he discovered a little known 1977 law, Presidential Decree No. 1152, which provided that when bodies of waters are polluted, it is the duty of the government to clean it up.
“Only two people knew of that law: me and former President Marcos,” Oposa said.
He said he met stiff resistance from various government agencies which argued before the high court that the cleanup of Manila Bay was a “political question” and therefore not subject to legal action.
Nonetheless, he thanked his opponents at the Office of the Solicitor General for bringing the matter up to the Supreme Court.
Final, executory“Their appeal to the Supreme Court has resulted in this decision. Finally, we have a final and executory decision on the matter that is respected by all.”
Fighting wars in behalf of the government is not entirely new to Oposa.
It was Oposa who filed a case in 1980 against the then Environment Secretary Fulgencio Factoran to cancel all logging concessions “in behalf of the children and future generations.” He won that now landmark case before the Supreme Court in 1993.
In 1989, he started a campaign to clean up the rivers of Imus, Cavite, in cooperation with the local government.
“That project was successful. But when the rains came, the waste matter from Dasmariñas came flowing in and we were back where we started,” he said.
A lack of political willIn fairness to local officials, Oposa said he saw many local governments and agencies wanting to do something about Manila Bay. “But they lacked the political will,” he said.
“I know many want to do the right thing. Now, they have the teeth because the rule of law is behind them,” Oposa said.
He said he wants to see a serious implementation of the Supreme Court decision on the Manila Bay cleanup.
On Jan. 7, members of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and the Philippine Bar Association will meet to discuss measures to monitor the implementation of the cleanup.
One of the initial ideas is to write to the government agencies concerned, asking for a report on the progress of the cleanup, with a copy to be furnished the Supreme Court.
“If government agencies and local governments waver in the cleanup, they will have to be answerable to the high court,” he said.
Wastewater treatmentHe also said he agreed with the call of Environment Secretary Lito Atienza for the two major water concessionaires in Metro Manila—Manila Water Co. and Maynilad Water Services Inc.—to immediately set up wastewater treatment facilities as a start in the cleanup of the bay.
Oposa cited another study that showed that four million gallons, or 16 million liters of raw untreated sewage, were being dumped into Manila Bay every day.
“If we look at our water bill, we pay a sewage fee. How come there is no compliance at least for the past 10 years?” he asked.
For Oposa, the fight to save Manila Bay has just begun and he anticipates the day when he would see the bay back to its pristine beauty.
“The Supreme Court decision reminds us that we are responsible for the environment to our youth and future generations,” he said.
ARTICLE 26 Arroyo men face contempt raps Eco-lawyer presses Manila Bay cleanupBy Alcuin Papa
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:49:00 08/24/2009MANILA, Philippines—An environmental lawyer who won a landmark case ordering government to clean up Manila Bay will ask the Supreme Court to cite government officials, including six Cabinet members, in contempt and jailed for failing to do their part in the cleanup.
In a motion to be filed Monday, lawyer and University of the Philippines professor Tony Oposa asked the high court to cite in contempt Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya and Education Secretary Jesli Lapus.
Also facing possible contempt charges are Jojo Allado of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, and the heads of the Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine Ports Authority and Maritime Police.
Oposa, who is set to receive the Ramon Magsaysay Award on Aug. 31, said the Supreme Court’s decision in December last year ordering the cleanup of Manila Bay directed certain government agencies to inform the high court the steps they have taken to comply with the decision.
“I hope our motion will make these government offices take the Supreme Court decision seriously and to take the rule of law seriously,” Oposa Sunday told the Inquirer.
Oposa said the tribunal was entitled to respect. “At least these government officials will be made to explain to the high court itself,” he added.
Only the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Metro Manila Development Authority have submitted their reports.
“Such defiance by the concerned government agencies is a show of utter disrespect to the honorable court. It is also an act of downright disobedience of or resistance to a lawful writ, process, order or judgment constituting indirect contempt,” Oposa said in his motion.
Choking on garbage, sewageManila Bay is choking on garbage and sewage. Passengers of the “Diwata ng Lahi,” a copy of the pre-colonial boat called the balangay, on a trip from near the Manila Yacht Club to the waters off Las Piñas City and back Sunday saw numerous detritus, mostly plastic bags, near the surface of the murky waters.
Early this month, big waves tossed onto Roxas Boulevard in Manila tons of garbage, another proof that Manila Bay has become a catch basin for trash.
Oposa also asked the officials to be committed to the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City or the Manila City Jail as stipulated by the Rules of Court.
Laser-like focusHe said orders from the Supreme Court “must not be treated lightly,” especially in a case like the cleanup of Manila Bay.
“This effort must be pursued with laser-like focus, with serious and sustained determination, and all the way to its logical conclusion. If there is lack of political will on the part of the government agencies, it is the function of the judiciary to supplant it with the will, the force, and the power of the law,” he said.
Oposa said a contempt order from the Supreme Court would serve as a strong message that the court was serious about enforcing the judgment to clean up the bay.
Oposa will be recognized by the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation next week for “his path-breaking and passionate crusade to engage Filipinos in acts of enlightened citizenship that maximize the power of the law to protect and nurture the environment for themselves, their children and generations still to come.”
Foreign loan for cleanupIn compliance with the court order, the DENR issued a report saying it was planning to borrow P3.8 billion from the Japanese government to finance projects to clean up the Manila Bay.
Atienza said the Local Water Utilities Administration was having difficulty installing, operating and maintaining facilities to treat and dispose of sewerage in Laguna, Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga and Bataan due to lack of funds.
Instead of borrowing money from foreign sources to save Manila Bay, the government should stop all reclamation projects on the bay, a militant fisherfolk group said Sunday.
Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said the best way to revive Manila Bay was to stop projects like the foreign-funded reclamation of some 7,000 hectares of foreshore areas in Cavite to give way to the R-1 Expressway Extension Project and the reclamation of another 5,000 hectares of shallow coastal waters to expand Sangley Point Naval Base.
Demolition of fishpensIn February, Pamalakaya questioned before the high court Atienza’s aggressive use of the Supreme Court ruling on the Manila Bay cleanup, saying the environment secretary was abusing the high court decision to carry out massive demolition of fishpens and communities in Bacoor, Cavite, and in other parts of Metro Manila.
In a statement, Pamalakaya said 60 percent of pollution entering the bay comes from the Pasig River, and 80 percent of the pollution comes from industries and commercial establishments along the country’s major river system in Metro Manila. Another 15 percent of the pollution comes from the Pampanga River.
“The government is blaming overfishing as a major factor in the degradation of the Manila Bay. That is a flimsy and ridiculous excuse,” it said.
ARTICLE 3Lawyers to monitor Manila Bay clean-up By Alcuin Papa
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:31:00 01/14/2009MANILA, Philippines—Some of the country’s top lawyers will monitor government compliance with a recent Supreme Court ruling ordering the clean-up of Manila Bay.
Tony Oposa, the University of the Philippines law professor who filed the case for the Manila Bay before the high court, has called on other lawyers and citizens to help in monitoring the clean-up.
According to Oposa, members of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and Philippine Bar Association met recently to form teams to monitor compliance by government agencies with the Supreme Court order.
“As required by the Supreme Court, the government agencies tasked to clean up Manila Bay have been required to submit reports to the court every 90 days,” Oposa said.
To ensure that the reports are truthful and accurate, the lawyers will form a high-level technical working group to verify the reports, summarize them and then submit them to the high court, he said.
“We know that this landmark decision is only the beginning of what will be a long and hard work to restore the Manila Bay into its former state of splendor and productivity,” said lawyer Linda Jimeno, former PBA president and spokesperson for the group.
Included among the nominees to the technical group are dean of the Ateneo School of Government and environmental lawyer Dr. Antonio La Viña, former environment secretary Bebet Gozun, and Dr. Edgardo Gomez of the UP Marine Science Institute.
The lawyers who attended the meeting included well-known litigation lawyers IBP executive vice president Rolly Vinluan, Jimeno and Rico Agcaoili of the PBA, Sigfrid Fortun, Karl Castillo and Oposa.
The Office of the Ombudsman, particularly its environmental task force, will also be involved in the monitoring of the agencies charged with the clean-up, Oposa said.
Lawyers and citizens who wish to help may sign up by sending an e-mail to Jimeno at ritalindaj@gmail.com. The team will be convening a meeting of volunteers.
In 1999, Oposa filed a case before the Imus, Cavite court to compel government agencies to clean up the bay. The case was elevated to the Supreme Court.
Last December 18, after 10 years, the high court ordered government agencies to immediately undertake moves to clean up the bay.
The ruling ordered 12 government agencies, including the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Metro Manila Development Authority and other local government units in the watershed of the Manila Bay, to restore its waters to a quality good enough for contact recreation.
The Supreme Court decision also ordered the implementation of the Solid Waste Management Law, the installation of sewerage systems and the removal of squatters along canals and riverbanks that feed into the Manila Bay.