Oil exploration in Tañon Strait is illegal – SC

BAGUIO CITY -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down a deal allowing the exploration and development of petroleum resources within the Tañon Strait, a narrow passage of water situated between the islands of Negros and Cebu.

 

In a media briefing, SC Public Information Office chief and spokesman Theodore Te said the high court en banc - in its annual summer session - voted unanimously to declare as unconstitutional Service Contract No. 46, entered into by the government and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co.,  Ltd. (JAPEX).

 

The high court said in its decision that SC­46 failed to comply with the safeguards required under Paragraph 4, Section 2, Article XII of the 1987 Constitution which required that the service contract be (a) authorized by a general law; (b)  signed by the President, and, (c) reported to Congress.  

 

In November 2007, JAPEX started drilling a 3,150-meter-deep hole some three kilometers west of Pinamungajan town in western Cebu, creating high level of decibels which affect the marine mammals and their habitat.

 

The court noted that while there was a general law on exploration, Presidential Decree No. 87, SC­ 46 was entered into in 2004 only between the Department of Energy and JAPEX and was signed only by the then Secretary of Energy and not by the President. 

 

The Court also said SC­46 was never submitted to Congress.  

 

Tañon Strait, the court said, is an environmentally-critical area and us among the habitats protected by Republic Act 7586 or the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act of 1992.

 

"Thus, any activity outside the scope of its management plan may only be   implemented pursuant to an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC)   secured after undergoing an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to determine the effects of such activity on its ecological system,” said the SC.

 

According to the SC, the contract also violated Presidential Decree No. 1586 which establishes an environmental impact system, including other environmental management related measures.

 

The SC also said that since the Tañon Strait is an NIPAS area, the exploitation and utilization of this energy resource may be allowed only through a law passed by Congress.

 

The high tribunal also noted that only humans "have personality to sue."

 

The petitions were separately filed by a group led by the Resident Marine Mammals of the Protected Seascape Tañon Strait and another group led by the Central Visayan Fisherfolk Development Center. 

 

Among those named respondents were the late Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Lito Atienza and Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, among others.

 

The Tañon Strait harbors a rich biodiversity of marine life, including endangered species of dolphins and whales. 

 

It was declared a “protected seascape” in 1998 by President Fidel Ramos through Proclamation No. 1234.  

 

President Joseph Estrada constituted the Tañon Strait Commission through Executive Order No. 76 to ensure the optimum and sustained use of the resources in the area without threatening its marine life. — ELR, GMA News