January 1, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The government is planning to contest a Supreme Court ruling declaring the 15-kilometer municipal water boundary unconstitutional as calls to protect the preferential rights of artisanal fishermen from various sectors continue to mount.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) is now coordinating with the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) on the possibility of reviewing the ruling made by the SC’s first division.
The BFAR, an agency attached to the Department of Agriculture, said the decision of the High Court’s first division “is not yet final.”
“The agency is dedicated to ensuring a fair and just resolution. This highlights the importance of the case in shaping policies and programs that impact the fisheries sector, particularly about environmental protection, resource management, and the rights of affected stakeholders,” BFAR said.
The Supreme Court’s first division issued a ruling upholding the Malabon Regional Trial Court’s decision on the petition of Mercidar Fishing Corp. to declare the preferential access of municipal fisherfolk to 15-km municipal water unconstitutional, among others.
Nonetheless, BFAR vowed to continue upholding its mandate of protecting and conserving the country’s aquatic resources while safeguarding the welfare of small-scale fishermen and coastal communities.
“The agency remains committed to the rule of law and the protection of national interests and sustainable fisheries management,” it said.
BFAR issued the statement amid mounting calls from more civil service organizations, non-government organizations, and other quarters for the government to intervene in the High Court’s first division ruling that they deemed detrimental to the livelihoods of artisanal fisherfolk and the country’s marine resources.
International marine protection group Oceana argued that the High Court’s first division ruling did not follow multiple legal processes both substantive and procedural.
Oceana vice president Gloria Estenzo Ramos said the case filed by Mercidar was an environmental case, but the rules of procedures for environmental cases were not followed.
First, Ramos said the case should have been publicly announced to allow all concerned stakeholders to participate in the legal proceeding. Second, the indispensable parties, in this case, stakeholders like artisanal fisherfolk and even local government units, were not parties to the case, Ramos added.
Ramos described the ruling as “sweeping” since it impacted even the rights of the LGUs, which, under existing laws and regulations, have jurisdiction over municipal waters.
Furthermore, there is also a legal lapse in the ruling of the High Court’s first division since it was not the Supreme Court en banc that decided on the “constitutionality” of the 15-km municipal water provision of existing laws and regulations, Ramos said.
Oceana said the executive branch should file a motion for reconsideration to reverse the possible detrimental effects of the ruling, which may worsen food insecurity in the country.
Meanwhile, the National Anti-Poverty Commission Artisanal Fisherfolk Sectoral Council (NAPC-AFSC) said BFAR should continue fulfilling its mandate of protecting the rights of municipal fisherfolk as stipulated under existing fisheries rules and laws.
“This is an issue of life and livelihood of artisanal fishermen and fisheries. It is not just to decide on the matter based on technicalities and not on the real state of the fishing industry,” NAPC-AFSC said in a statement written in Filipino.
“The Office of the President should intervene in this issue. President Marcos has a directive to find and address the needs of the most vulnerable sectors of the society,” NAPC-AFSC added, noting that artisanal fishermen are one of, if not the poorest sector in the country.
Surigao Del Norte Mayor Alfredo Coro II also called on President Marcos to intervene to preserve the preferential rights of the artisanal fishermen over the 15-kilometer municipal waters and the continued regulation of commercial fishing within the established boundary.
“The local government of Del Carmen, together with the Sangguniang Bayan of Del Carmen, expresses the sentiments of the local fishers not only of Del Carmen but of all the two million small fishers in the Philippines in appealing for consideration the Supreme Court decision removing the 15-km municipal waters preferential rights to municipal fisherfolks and regulations of commercial fishing operations within the municipal waters,” Coro said in a statement.
University of the Philippines Visayas retired professor Wilfredo Campos said the entry of commercial fishers into the municipal waters would accelerate the depletion of fishing resources to the detriment of the country’s food security.
“It will make things worse and only speed up the potential collapse of stocks, resulting in irreversible loss of the resource base and loss of livelihoods for both commercial and municipal sectors,” Campos said.
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