Anti-mining suit gets Court go-ahead THE Supreme Court (SC) gave the go-ahead to a petition filed by a member of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) in Sorsogon province in pursuit of an environmental suit against local mining operations. A lower court earlier dismissed the case. In a full court decision, the tribunal granted the petition for review filed by petitioner Maricris Dolot of Bayan-Sorsogon holding that “the order dated September 16, 2011 and Resolution dated October 18, 2011 issued by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Sorsogon, Branch 53, dismissing [the civil case] are nullified and set aside. September 19, 2013 by JOMAR CANLAS “The Executive Judge of the Regional Trial Court of Sorsogon is directed to transfer the case to the Regional Trial Court of Irosin, Branch 55, for further proceedings with dispatch,” the High Court ruled. The court also ordered petitioner Dolot “to furnish the respondents with a copy of the petition and its annexes within 10 days from receipt of this Decision and to submit its Compliance with the RTC of Irosin.” On September 15, 2011, Dolot, together with the parish priest of the Holy Infant Jesus Parish and the officers of Alyansa Laban sa Mina sa Matnog, filed a petition for continuing mandamus, damages and attorney’s fees with the RTC of Sorsogon. In 2009, they protested the iron ore mining operations being conducted by Antones Enterprises, Global Summit Mines Development Corp. and TR Ore in Barangays Balocawe and Bon-ot Daco, in Matnog town, to no avail. Matnog lies in the southern tip of Luzon and there is a need to protect, preserve and maintain the geological foundation of the municipality and is susceptible to flooding and landslides, and confronted with the environmental dangers of flood hazard, liquefaction, ground settlement, ground subsidence and landslide hazard. After investigation, they learned that the mining operators did not have the required permit to operate. Gov. Raul Lee of Sorsogon and his predecessor Sally Lee issued to the operators a small-scale mining permit, which they did not have authority to issue. They also alleged that representatives of the Presidential Management Staff and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), despite their knowledge, did not do anything to protect the interest of the people of Matnog and that respondents violated Republic Act (RA) 7076 or the People’s Small-Scale Mining Act of 1991, RA 7942 or the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, and the Local Government Code. On September 16, 2011, the case was summarily dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. They filed a motion for reconsideration but it was denied in the resolution10 dated October 18, 2011, prompting the petitioners to seek redress with the high court. In its ruling, the court found that “the RTC erred in ruling that the petition is infirm for failure to attach judicial affidavits.” “As previously stated, Rule 8 requires that the petition should be verified, contain supporting evidence and must be accompanied by a sworn certification of non-forum shopping. “There is nothing in Rule 8 that compels the inclusion of judicial affidavits, albeit not prohibited. It is only if the evidence of the petitioner would consist of testimony of witnesses that it would be the time that judicial affidavits [affidavits of witnesses in the question and answer form] must be attached to the petition/complaint. “Finally, failure to furnish a copy of the petition to the respondents is not a fatal defect such that the case should be dismissed. The RTC could have just required the petitioners to furnish a copy of the petition to the respondents,” the ruling read. Stressed the High Court: “It should be remembered that courts are not enslaved by technicalities, and they have the prerogative to relax compliance with procedural rules of even the most mandatory character, mindful of the duty to reconcile both the need to speedily put an end to litigation and the parties’ right to an opportunity to be heard.”
Posted on: Thu, 19 Sep 2013 16:07:08 +0000
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