Fifty-two individuals have filed a lawsuit before the Supreme Court against the National Solid Waste Management Commission and six department secretaries for supposedly neglecting to address plastic pollution in the country.
According to Oceana, the petitioners are seeking the issuance of a Writ of Kalikasan and Writ of Continuing Mandamus due to the government’s inaction on non-environmentally acceptable products and packaging.
One of the petitioners is former Senator Sergio Osmena III.
Meanwhile, the respondents are the NHSWMC and Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato Dela Peña, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, Public Works Secretary Roger Mercado, Agriculture Secretary William Dar, and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairperson Benhur Abalos.
The petitioners cited Section 16 of Article II of the 1987 Constitution, which provides for the people’s right to a “balanced and healthful ecology” as well as Section 15 which mandates the state to “protect and promote the right to health” of the people among others.
“Petitioners are also entitled to the protection of these rights, which the Respondents have violated and continue to violate as they continue to unlawfully refuse and grossly neglect to comply with their statutory mandate to issue the list of non-environmentally acceptable products,” they said.
According to the petitioners, the “continued disregard” of the respondents for their mandate under Republic Act No. 9003 will continue to aggravate the environmental damage.
“Worse, the lives and health of every Filipino now existing and yet unborn is continuously prejudiced by the Respondents’ refusal to implement their mandate,” they said.
Data from the Ocean Conservancy and McKinsey Center for Business and Environment in 2015 showed that around 2.7 million metric tons of plastic waste are disposed of in the Philippines every year.
Meanwhile, the country was projected to generate 16.6 million metric tons of trash by the end of 2020.
“Every second that the Respondents continue to allow the defilement of our natural resources and the very environment we all depend on for life, only the manufacturers, distributors, and sellers of cheap plastic products stand to profit ? at the expense of the health, lives, and future of everyone else,” the petitioners said.—AOL, GMA News
6 gov t officials, waste management body sued over failure to address plastic pollution
Source: Pinoy Hub News
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