Resident Marine Mammals of the Protected Seascape Tañon Strait vs.
Reyes
G.R. Nos. 180771 & 181527
G.R. No. 180771 is an original Petition for Certiorari, Mandamus, and Injunction, which seeks to enjoin
respondents from implementing SC-46 and to have it nullified for willful and gross violation of the 1987
Constitution and certain international and municipal laws.
Petitioners in this case collectively referred to as the "Resident Marine Mammals" in the petition, are the
toothed whales, dolphins, porpoises, and other cetacean species, which inhabit the waters in and
around the Ta on Strait. They are joined by Gloria Estenzo Ramos (Ramos) and Rose-Liza Eisma-Osorio
(Eisma-Osorio) as their legal guardians and as friends (to be collectively known as "the Stewards") who
allegedly empathize with, and seek the protection of, the aforementioned marine species. Also
impleaded as an unwilling co-petitioner is former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, for her express
declaration and undertaking in the ASEAN Charter to protect the Ta on Strait, among others.
Respondents: are the late Angelo T. Reyes, as then Secretary of the Department of Energy (DOE);
Jose L. Atienza, as then Secretary of the DENR;
Leonardo R. Sibbaluca, as then DENR-Regional Director for Region VII and Chairman of the Tanon Strait
Protected Seascape Management Board; Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., Ltd. (JAPEX), a company
organized and existing under the laws of Japan with a Philippine branch office; and Supply Oilfield
Services, Inc. (SOS), as the alleged Philippine agent of JAPEX.
In 2002, the Government of the Philippines, entered into a Geophysical Survey and Exploration Contract-
102 (GSEC-102) with JAPEX. This contract involved geological and geophysical studies of the Tanon Strait.
The studies included surface geology, sample analysis, and reprocessing of seismic and magnetic data.
JAPEX, assisted by DOE, also conducted geophysical and satellite surveys, as well as oil and gas sampling
in Tanon Strait.
In 2004, DOE and JAPEX formally converted GSEC-102 into Service Contract (SC-46) for the exploration,
development, and production of petroleum resources in a block covering approximately 2,850 square
kilometers offshore the Ta on Strait.
JAPEX began to drill an exploratory well, drilling lasted for 4 year (natapos na 2008)
petitioners applied Court for redress (December 17, 2007) seeks that respondents be enjoined from
implementing SC-46 for violation of the 1987 Constitution.
Petitioners' Allegations - Protesting the adverse ecological impact of JAPEX's oil exploration activities in
the Tanon Strait.
There have been reduced fish catch and lack of public consultations or discussions with the fisherfolk
and other stakeholders
Among the Public Respondents' Counter-Allegations Public respondents was petitioners Resident
Marine Mammals and Stewards have no legal standing to file the present petition; that SC-46 does not
violate the 1987 Constitution and the various laws cited in the petitions;
The public respondents contend that since petitioners Resident Marine Mammals and Stewards' petition
was not brought in the name of a real party-in-interest, it should be dismissed for failure to state a cause
of action.
The Resident Marine Mammals, through the Stewards, "claim" that they have the legal standing to file
this action since they stand to be benefited or injured by the judgment in this suit.
public respondents argue that the Resident Marine Mammals have no standing because Section 1, Rule
3 of the Rules of Court requires parties to an action to be either natural or juridical persons. As regards
the Stewards, the public respondents likewise challenge their claim of legal standing on the ground that
they are representing animals, which cannot be parties to an action. Moreover, the public respondents
argue that the Stewards are not the real parties-in-interest for their failure to show how they stand to be
benefited or injured by the decision in this case.
Issue: whether or not animals or even inanimate objects should be given legal standing in actions
before courts of law
Inanimate objects are sometimes parties in litigation.
Those people who have a meaningful relation to the inanimate objects must be able to speak for the
values which the object represents and which are threatened with its destruction.
It had been suggested by animal rights advocates and environmentalists that not only natural and
juridical persons should be given legal standing because of the difficulty for persons, who cannot show
that they by themselves are real parties-in-interests, to bring actions in representation of these animals
or inanimate objects.
In our jurisdiction, locus standi in environmental cases has been given a more liberalized approach.
The Court passed the landmark Rules of Procedure for Environmental Cases, which allow for a "citizen
suit," and permit any Filipino citizen to file an action before our courts for violations of our
environmental laws.
SEC. 5. Citizen suit. Any Filipino citizen in representation of others, including minors or generations yet
unborn, may file an action to enforce rights or obligations under environmental laws. Upon the filing of a
citizen suit, the court shall issue an order which shall contain a brief description of the cause of action
and the reliefs prayed for, requiring all interested parties to manifest their interest to intervene in the
case within fifteen (15) days from notice thereof. The plaintiff may publish the order once in a
newspaper of a general circulation in the Philippines or furnish all affected barangays copies of said
order.
The Rules enable litigants enforcing environmental rights to file their cases as citizen suits. This
provision liberalizes standing for all cases filed enforcing environmental laws and collapses the
traditional rule on personal and direct interest, on the principle that humans are stewards of nature.
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.
SC-46 was not executed for the mere purpose of gathering information on the possible energy resources
in the Tanon Strait as it also provides for the parties' rights and obligations relating to extraction and
petroleum production should oil in commercial quantities be found to exist in the area. While
Presidential Decree No. 87 may serve as the general law upon which a service contract for petroleum
exploration and extraction may be authorized, the exploitation and utilization of this energy resource in
the present case may be allowed only through a law passed by Congress, since the Ta on Strait is a NIPAS
(National Integrated Protected Areas System) area. Since there is no such law specifically allowing oil
exploration and/or extraction in the Ta on Strait, no energy resource exploitation and utilization may be
done in said protected seascape.
WHEREFORE, the Petitions in G.R. Nos. 180771 and 181527 are GRANTED, Service Contract No. 46 is
hereby declared NULL AND VOID for violating the 1987 Constitution, Republic Act No. 7586, and
Presidential Decree No. 1586.
