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69 - Resident Marine Mammals vs. Reyes PDF

The Supreme Court of the Philippines ruled that marine mammals have legal standing to pursue a case challenging oil exploration in the Tañon Strait. While the specific service contract had been terminated, the Court found the case was not moot due to the constitutional violations alleged and the possibility of future similar actions. The Court also found that any Filipino citizen can act as a steward of nature and file suit to enforce environmental laws based on the Rules of Procedure for Environmental Cases. Therefore, the individuals acting as legal guardians and stewards of the marine mammals possessed legal standing to pursue the petition.

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316 views1 page

69 - Resident Marine Mammals vs. Reyes PDF

The Supreme Court of the Philippines ruled that marine mammals have legal standing to pursue a case challenging oil exploration in the Tañon Strait. While the specific service contract had been terminated, the Court found the case was not moot due to the constitutional violations alleged and the possibility of future similar actions. The Court also found that any Filipino citizen can act as a steward of nature and file suit to enforce environmental laws based on the Rules of Procedure for Environmental Cases. Therefore, the individuals acting as legal guardians and stewards of the marine mammals possessed legal standing to pursue the petition.

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loschudent
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Resident Marine Mammals of the Protected Seascape Tañon Strait v.

Secretary Angelo Reyes

G.R. No. 180771

(April 21, 2015)

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.

In its decision, the Supreme Court first addressed the important procedural point of whether the case was
moot because the service contract had been terminated. The Court declared that mootness is “not a
magical formula that can automatically dissuade the courts in resolving a case.”. Due to the alleged grave
constitutional violations and paramount public interest in the case, not to mention the fact that the
actions complained of could be repeated, the Court found it necessary to reach the merits of the case
even though the particular service contract had been terminated.

ISSUE:

Whether or not marine mammals, through their stewards, have legal standing to pursue the case

RULING:

YES. In our jurisdiction, locus standi in environmental cases has been given a more liberalized approach.
The Rules of Procedure for Environmental Cases allow for a “citizen suit,” and permit any Filipino citizen
to file an action before our courts for violation of our environmental laws on the principle that humans
are stewards of nature.

In light of the foregoing, 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. It is worth noting here that the Stewards are joined as real parties in the Petition
and not just in representation of the named cetacean species. The Stewards, Ramos and Eisma-Osorio,
having shown in their petition that there may be possible violations of laws concerning the habitat of the
Resident Marine Mammals, are therefore declared to possess the legal standing to file this petition.

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