Fishermen claim being duped into signing West PHL Sea petition

Two Subic, Zambales fishermen, among the two dozen or so petitioners who had accused the government of neglecting its duty of enforcing environmental laws in three features of the West Philippine Sea and were thus calling on the Supreme Court to issue a Writ of Kalikasn over these features, denied knowingly being involved in the petition.

According to Cecille Villarosa's Friday report on GMA 7 news program 24 Oras, Wilfredo Labandelo and Nilo Labrador and 30 other fishermen had gone to the Integrated Bar of the Philippines' Olangapo office to seek help with the demolition of a shanty community in Sitio Kinabuksan, and not over a Writ of Kalikasan for the West Philippine Sea.

At the IBP office,  Labandelo and Labrador claimed they were made to sign a blank document and were offered no explanations as to what it was they were signing.

Come April, the fishermen found themselves at the IBP's Ortigas office.

"Ayun nakita namin sina [Chel] Diokno," recounted Labandelo. "Sandali lang kaming nag-usap pinapasok na lang kami sa loob ng isang kwan, at merong pinapirma sa 'min. Pero di kami nakapirma. May pirma na dati yun."

"Meron lang pinahawak saming papel," added Labrador. "Hindi naman namin alam kung saan gagamitin."

As to what was written on the document, Labrador said, "Hindi na po namin nabasa, eh."

According to Solicitor General Jose Calida, the fishermen's revelation had led to the government's and the petitioners' agreement to end the Writ of Kalikasan case at the Supreme Court.

However, Diokno insisted that he had spoken to the fishermen.

Furthermore, he objected to how government lawyers had secretly approached the the petitioner-fishermen, behavior prohibited by the legal profession's code of ethics.

IBP-Olongapo lawyers, for their part, told GMA News TV program State of the Nation with Jessica Soho that they had evidence that would prove that the petition had been fully explained to the fishermen, and that the documents they were made to sign were not mere blank pages.

Meantime, the Supreme Court directed the IBP to clarify how exactly the Writ-of-Kalikasan petion was prepared, and ordered the Solicitor General's Office to explain how it had acquired the testimony of the fishermen-petitioners. — DVM, GMA News