Akbayan hits 'hands-off' Supreme Court decision on Manila Bay dolomite beach

The Supreme Court (SC) lost an opportunity to protect Filipinos' rights to a balanced and healthful ecology when it refused to penalize the Environment department for its artificial white beach project along Manila Bay, progressive group Akbayan said Friday.

"The Supreme Court has taken, quite sadly, a hands-off approach on an issue of transcendental importance," Akbayan chair emeritus and former Commission on Human Rights chief Etta Rosales said in a statement.

Akbayan had asked the SC to cite the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in contempt over its dolomite beach project, which experts have warned pose risks to the ecosystem and humans.

The group made the appeal through a motion to intervene in a 2008 case in which the SC ordered the government to clean, rehabilitate, and preserve Manila Bay.

But the SC denied Akbayan's motion, saying the case has already been decided with finality and is now in the execution stage. The court also said it has not yet seen any violation of its continuing order for the preservation of the harbor.

The justices said the issue of the use of the material dolomite in the beach project was a factual question that the highest Philippine court generally does not entertain.

"Even the high tribunal's statement that it found no violation of its continuing Mandamus is discouraging," Rosales said, adding that the court limited its findings to reports submitted by the DENR.

"It failed to include in its assessment the DENR's dumping of fake sand as a polluting act violative of its order," she said.

The Akbayan official said they will study their next legal steps and urged the original parties to the 2008 environmental protection case — concerned residents of Manila Bay — to add their voices to the call.

Rosales said Akbayan stands by the evidence and expert opinions of marine scientists and environmental groups.

"The opinion of experts throughout the scientific community has repeatedly expressed the hazards, both in the short and long term, of the dolomite project," she said.

"The public would do well to listen to their advice. Huwag natin ipagkatiwala ang ating kalikasan at kalusugan sa mga gaya ni Mr. Benny Antiporda," she added, referring to the DENR undersecretary who accused the University of the Philippines of milking public funds after their scientists criticized the dolomite beach project. Antiporda later apologized over this remark.

Scientists from UP had advised the government to use mangroves instead of crushed dolomite to rehabilitate Manila Bay.—AOL, GMA News