Eco-lawyer presses Manila Bay cleanup

August 24, 2009

MANILA, 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, sewage

Manila 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 focus

He 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 cleanup

In 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 fishpens

In 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.

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