Amid Chinese incursions on the country’s islands in the West Philippine Sea, the Supreme Court issued a writ of Kalikasan Friday compelling concerned government agencies to protect, preserve, rehabilitate, and restore the marine environment in Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, Ayungin Shoal, and Panganiban Reef. During its special en banc session, the Court resolved to grant the prayer for the issuance of a writ of Kalikasan filed by the members of the Kalayaan Palawan Farmers and Fisherfolk Association and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.
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The petitioners had sought the same relief that the Court issued in 2008 when it ordered all concerned government agencies to coordinate for the cleanup, restoration, and preservation of the Manila Bay.
The SC ruling dovetails with the arbitration case won by the Philippines against China over the islands in the International Criminal Court during the previous Aquino administration, and with a separate communication lodged recently against Chinese President Xi Jinping before the ICC filed by former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales.
Citing evidence in the country’s arbitration victory, the Filipino fisher’s group said Chinese fishermen and vessels have harvested endangered species and used cyanide and dynamite in Scarborough and Ayungin Shoals, violating the Philippine Fisheries Code.
They also assailed Chinese construction activities in Panganiban Reef.
Malacañang itself said last month that the persistent presence of Chinese vessels near islands occupied by the Philippines in the WPS is “an assault on our sovereignty.”
The Palace also took exception to China’s extraction of giant clams at Scarborough as first reported by ABS-CBN, calling it an “affront” to the country’s sovereignty.
In 2016, the ICC—a tribunal based in The Hague—invalidated China’s excessive historic claims over almost the entire South China Sea and upheld the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone in the same waters.
Named respondents were the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, represented by Secretary Roy A. Cimatu; Department of Agriculture, represented by Secretary Emmanuel Piñol; Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, represented by National Director Eduardo B. Gongona;
The Philippine Navy, represented by Flag Officer in Command Robert Empedrad; Philippine Coast Guard, represented by Commandant Admiral Elson E. Hermogino; Philippine National Police, represented by PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde; PNP Maritime Group, represented by Chief Supt. Rodelio B. Jocson; and Department of Justice, represented by Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra.
Panatag Shoal is located in the Municipality of Masinloc, Province of Zambales, while Ayungin Shoal and Panganiban Reef, also known as Mischief Reef are located in the Municipality of Kalayaan, Province of Palawan.
In their petition, the groups cited as basis the documents submitted by the Philippine government in the inter-state arbitration proceedings under Annex VII to the 1982 United National Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) as well as the 2016 award by the tribunal in the South China Sea Arbitration, which established that foreign poachers, foreign construction and land reclamation entities have caused massive environmental damage in Philippine waters and the Philippine exclusive economic zone.
The Philippines won the arbitration on July 12, 2016, but the government under President Rodrigo Duterte “has failed or refuses to enforce the ruling in a manner that is beneficial to Filipinos,” the petitioners said.
The petitioner noted that the SCS Arbitral ruling has upheld the Philippine government’s claim that Ayungin Shoal, Panganiban Reef and Panatag Shoal are well within the Philippine EEZ, so the country’s environmental laws must be enforced in these areas.
