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MUNICIPAL fishermen based in
Cebu are now
gearing up for court battle against the Japan Petroleum
Exploration Ltd. (Japex) over the controversial
oil-and-gas exploration project at the Tañon Strait, a
protected seascape.
This
developed after the Supreme Court (SC) finally decided
to start hearing the injunction case filed by members of
the Pamana-Sugbo and the Central Visayas Fisherfolk
Development Center (Fidec).
Both are
affiliated with the militant fisherfolk alliance
Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya),
which opposes off-shore exploration in the
Philippines.
The SC in an en banc resolution dated March 4 accepted
and docketed the injunction case filed by fishermen in
the towns of Aloguinsan and Pinamungajan, a copy of
which was obtained by Pamana-Sugbo and Fidec on Friday.
The case
was filed to stop the oil -and-gas exploration
activities because of its adverse effect on the marine
ecosystem in the Tañon Strait and the livelihood of
thousands of fisherfolk in Cebu as well as Negros, who
complained against the diminishing fish catch since the
project began in 2005.
Pamalakaya national chairman Fernando Hicap, who was
elated by the report, said members of the group as well
as their affiliate organizations in Cebu are raring to
face their enemies in court.
“Let
this political and legal battle royale in the Supreme
Court begin. We are eager to face the enemies of the
fisherpeople and the marine environment like Energy
Secretary Angelo Reyes and company,” Hicap said in a
press statement.
According to Hicap, the SC is expected to require the
main respondents in the case, which include Reyes,
Environment Secretary Joselito Atienza, Agriculture
Secretary Arthur Yap, officials of Japex as well as
other officials of the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Energy (DOE) and
the Agriculture department to answer the legal questions
as well as moral issues being raised by the affected
sector.
The
fisherfolk petitioners in the injunction case
represented the 26,000 coastal people in Aloguinsan and
Pinamungajan towns who have been directly affected by
the Japanese group’s oil-and-gas exploration since 2005.
The
militant group in 2006 had filed plunder and graft
complaints before the Office of the Ombudsman in
connection with oil-and-gas exploration at the protected
seascape which separates the island provinces of Cebu
and Negros.
Those
named in the charge sheet were President Arroyo, Reyes,
former DENR secretary Michael Defensor and national and
regional officials of the DENR and DOE.
Pamalakaya warned of severe fish crisis if the
government will not cancel all offshore mining
activities in the Visayas Sea, Palawan and other parts
of the country, adding that the far-reaching effect of
oil-and-gas exploration could lead to the decrease of
600,000 metric tons in the yearly production of fish in
the country, or approximately 20 percent annually. |
