Court of Appeals junks Zambales’ residents petition for writ of kalikasan against mining companies
THE COURT of Appeals (CA) has junked a petition filed by Concerned Citizens of Sta. Cruz, Zambales ( CCOSZ) seeking a writ of kalikasan with temporary environmental protection order (TEPO) against mining companies operating in the province.
A writ of kalikasan, as provided in the Rules of Procedure for Environmental Cases, is a legal remedy that gives power to citizens to uphold their “constitutional right to a balanced and healthful ecology,” while a TEPO is issued by a judge “if it appears from the verified complaint with a prayer for the issuance of an Environmental Protection Order (EPO) that the matter is of extreme urgency.”
The CA’s Former Special Fourteenth Division, in a 15-page decision dated May 22, lifted the writ of kalikasan issued by the Supreme Court (SC) on June 21 last year.
Subjected to the writ were Zambales Diversified Metals Corp. (ZDMC), Eramen Minerals, Inc. (EMI), BenguetCorp Nickel Mines (BNMI) and LnL Archipelago Minerals (LAMI) and Shangfil Mining and Trading Corp.
The petitioners said respondent mining companies “have adopted unsystematic mining practices,” resulting in the “destruction of (the) ecosystem” in the town and surrounding areas, prompting them to appeal before the SC.
The SC in June 2016, ordered the CA to rule on the said petition.
The respondents raised the Joint Suspension Order dated July 7, 2016 issued by then Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez “which immediately suspended the mining operations of all respondent companies,” thereby rendering the application of TEPO as “moot and academic.”
Ms. Lopez, before she was rejected by the Commission of Appointments, ordered 23 of 41 metal mines shut down, while suspending five more — based on the department’s audit in July that found the miners to be violating environmental management standards.
The CA for its part said: “With the closure of mining operations, there can be no unlawful act or omission that may be committed by respondent mining companies that would result in actual or threatened violations of petitioner’s constitutional right to a balanced and healthful ecology.”
“This Court, inept with specialized knowledge and expertise of the DENR, cannot be expected to render a better resolution of the purported violation by respondent mining companies, in this present recourse for writ of kalikasan,” the decision reads.
“Any further proceedings in this petition may only duplicate, much worse, contradict, the investigative findings of the DENR and the corresponding orders it may issue pursuant thereto. To insist otherwise would only breed more controversy on the matter,” the CA also said.
The Mining Industry Coordinating Council ( MICC), the interagency team tasked to conduct a nationwide review of mines across the country, has yet to start its evaluation of the mining companies. The council, however, assured that the audit will push through.
The decision was penned by Associate Justice Renato O. Francisco. Concurring are Associate Justice Jose C. Reyes, Jr. and Apolinario D. Bruselas, Jr.