Filipino wins top US environmental law award

WASHINGTON D.C. -- He describes himself as a street brawler and

storyteller traits that have carried lawyer Antonio Oposa Jr. from the
shadows of the Philippines endangered forests to the barren corral
waters of the Visayas, and now, the American capital to receive the
2008 International Environmental Law Award.
This award is not for me, but for all Filipinos. We are natural geniuses
for our love of nature, he stressed.
Oposa is only the sixth person to receive the honor from the DC-based
Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL). He is also the first
Asian, and first Filipino to win the award.
He earned a business degree from Dela Salle University in 1975, a
Bachelor of Law from the University of the Philippines in 1982 and a
Master of Law from the Harvard Law School in 1997.
Oposa was influenced heavily by Georgetown Professor Edith Brown
Weiss (a CIEL awardee in 2007) who espoused the concept of
intergenerational equity and international law.
Intergenerational responsibility
Oposa decided to test this concept in the early 1990s when he acted
as counsel for 43 children, many of them his own relatives, in class suit
against then Environment & Natural Resources Secretary Fulgencio
Factoran.
Studies showed that in 1988 there were only 800,000 hectares of virgin
forest left in the Philippines. And yet Timber License Agreements
(TLAs) issued by the DENR to 92 logging companies aimed to cut down
over 3.9 million hectares raising the prospect the country would lose
its entire primeval forest resource.
A lower court dismissed Oposas suit, saying the plaintiff children did
not have legal personality. But the Supreme Court reversed the
decision in favor of Oposa, thus setting the landmark Oposa vs
Factoran that has been used as a legal precedent in courts as far
away as Bangladesh.
Antonio Oposa has contributed in many different ways to the
international environmental movement, Daniel Magraw, CIEL
president, told ABS-CBNs Balitang America.
The case of Oposa vs Factoran was a major inspiration to many legal
systems and many lawyers around the world. It focused on a local area
as national law but it demonstrated an international legal theory, which
gave effect to it. This is very important to the development of
international law, Magraw explained.
Although enforcement of the Supreme Court decision was pre-empted
by moves by Malacanang and Congress to enforce a logging ban,
Oposa vs Factoran created enough pressure to break bureaucratic
inertia.

It opened the eyes of the Filipino people, stressed Philippine

Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Hilario Davide Jr.
He was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court that promulgated Oposa vs
Factoran.
Even in the Constitution there is a very specific provision in the
Declaration of Principles prescribing it is the duty of the state to
promote and protect the right of the people a balanced, healthy
ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature, Davide told
ABS-CBN Balitang America.
Tony Oposa was a blessing to the environmental protection in the
Philippines because he was the first really to bring a case in the court
not only in behalf of the present generation, but also to future
generations, he averred.
Helping government do its duty
Intergenerational equity, Davide stressed, became a legal doctrine
enunciated by the Philippine Supreme Court. That is the special
distinction of our Supreme Court, he proudly declared.
Because of that the government really started to follow certain
policies that protect the environment, Davide added.
This has led to the creation of a legal arsenal of laws designed to
safeguard the environment.
I think we have the most number of laws passed but in the matter of
implementation much still has to be accomplished, the UN envoy said.
Oposa next trained his sights on illegal fishermen in the Visayas Sea
that led to the arrest of several suspects in operations mounted by the
Philippine Navy, Integrated Bar of the Philippines and other nongovernment organizations.
A colleague was shot dead and Oposa got death threats. A bemused
Oposa told Balitang America that he only got to know at the awarding
ceremony, after he got a chance to talk lengthily with Professor Weiss,
that his friends in the US were ready to evacuate him from the
Philippines.
They did send some money and urged him to use it to hire bodyguards.
Instead, Oposa invested the funds to establish the School of the Seas.
He proudly reveals the school is totally powered by renewable energy,
recycles 100% of its water and a good place to learn about sustainable
living.
Oposas 10-year legal battle against the government to rehabilitate
Manila Bay bore fruit with another victory in the Supreme Court last
year. The suit aimed to obligate 12 government agencies to commit to
cleaning Manila Bay, including setting a timetable to accomplish this.

He noted the Supreme Court decision reinforced the principle of

intergenerational responsibility by establishing the right to sue
governments on behalf of future generations.
Tony Oposa has really taken the initiative to make it really the duty of
the Philippine government to exercise political will to implement all our
environmental laws, Davide averred.
Bigger battle ahead
Oposa told his audience that the Philippines was especially vulnerable
to climate change and global warming his current and perhaps
biggest battle.
To underline urgency, he showed slides of remote sensing images
showing that the warmest waters in the world appeared to extend from
the Philippines eastern shoreline running south all the way to eastern
Papua New Guinea, and stretching all the way east to Hawaii.
We are not only the most critical, we are also the most vulnerable, he
emphasized, pointing to the Philippines extensive coastline, location in
the typhoon belt and fragile fresh water sources.
For Oposa, the threat is real and personal. He showed pictures of his
beach-side property in Cebu, starting in 2006, marking the water line
that seemed to advance through the years. He predicted, he would
eventually lose his house to the sea unless global warming and the
melting of the polar ice caps are reversed.
We can not ignore climate change and global warming because its
happening, now, he averred.
The rising seas, he said, would also submerge large tracts of Metro
Manila. In a disturbing animation, based on calculations made by the
World Wildlife Fund about 70 percent of the Philippine capital region,
from the Bulacan-Navotas-Malabon area all the way south to Cavite
and Paranaque and everything in between, including Malacanang and
the Ninoy Aquino International Airport disappeared from the map.
That apocalyptic scenario was based on predictions by NASA physicist
Josefino Comiso that melting polar caps could raise sea levels by as
much as 23 feet.
He said climate change has put nature in a fever. He recounted that
the rains have started, before he left Manila. Its supposed to be the
middle of summer, but its raining. This is a symptom of climate
change. The sun doesnt know when to shine anymore. Natataranta na
ang panahon, Oposa said with wry humor.
I am challenging all my lawyer friends in the Philippines and all over
the world. Im calling for a revolution, not a bloody revolt, but a
revolution of the mind, of attitudes. We need to change the way we
think, he stressed.

On June 5, dozens of lawyers will file suits, petitions and take other
legal moves across the Philippines to dramatize the need for profound
changes to stop climate change and global warming.
Oposa cited a 20-year-old law mandating the creation of rain water
collection systems in each barangay across the archipelago. He
lamented, very few even know that this law exists.
He said that by launching the nationwide legal offensive, Oposa said
they hope to demonstrate the power of united legal action to produce
urgent change. Today, the Philippines; tomorrow, the world! he
declared.

COPYRIGHT ABS-CBN INTERACTIVE

ARTICLE REPRODUCED HERE FOR THE PURPOSE OF NATURE
CONSERVATION AND EDUCATION