Strike one for the environment
| C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S |
 |
| Jonathan De la Cruz |
The Supreme Court decision to issue a temporary environmental protection order (Tepo) directing the First Philippine Industrial Corp. (FPIC) and First Gen to “cease and desist from operating its damaged 117-kilometer pipeline” brings hope to persons and communities threatened with environmental damage. This is the first time that the high court uses the so-called “writ of kalikasan” meant precisely to give teeth to our people’s aspirations and, yes, constitutional right to a clean and balanced environment to address a “clear and present danger” to the health and well being of the inhabitants of a threatened community or communities.
A product of years of deliberations which came about during the term of Chief Justice Reynato Puno, the writ of kalikasan is a “remedy available to any natural or juridical entity...on behalf of persons whose constitutional right to a balanced and healthful ecology is violated or threatened with violation by an unlawful act or omission of a public official or employee or private individual or entity, involving environmental damage of such magnitude as to prejudice the life, health or property of inhabitants in two or more cities or provinces.” The leakage from the 117 BatMan (Batangas-Manila) pipeline, particularly the portion near the Magallanes fly over has been traced as the source of the unabated flow of fuel into the basement of the West Tower condominum.
And, as experts on the scene now confirm, this leak may have discharged fuel over time which seeped into the grounds affecting the water table of a huge portion of Barangay Bangkal in Makati. It is very possible that there are leaks or related defects in other parts of the pipeline which is why the high tribunal also ordered the respondents to “check the structural integrity of the whole span of the 117-kilometer pipeline” to ensure that no other areas are as environmentally vulnerable as West Tower and Barangay Bangkal..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101122com4.html
0 comments
Post a Comment