Climate change petition ‘premature,’ say local execs in the Philippines

Tetch Torres in the Inquirer.net (Philippines) stokes this blog's obsession with drainage: The petition of Ramon Magsaysay awardee, lawyer Antonio Oposa Jr., asking the Supreme Court for a special order to compel local government units to construct anti-flooding facilities before the rainy season is “premature,” local executive said Monday.

In a 12-page opposition, the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) thus asked the high tribunal to dismiss the petition filed by Oposa’s Global Legal Action on Climate Change (GLACC). Its lawyer Gil Fernando Cruz said Oposa’s group failed to exhaust all legal remedies prior to the filing of the petition before the high court.

The LPP said GLACC should have first sent demand letters to respondents Leagues of Cities, Municipalities, Barangays (villages), and Provinces as a follow-up to their letter sent last year inquiring about their compliance with Republic Act 6716. Based on the letter-reply of the local government units, only four rainwater collectors have been put up.

…RA 6716 mandates the creation of rainwater collection in every barangay for a more efficient nationwide flood control project. But the LPP said Section 5 of the law is unconstitutional in so far as it directs and compels LGUs to automatically allocate a portion of its funds annually for the implementation of the law.

The LPP pointed that the 1987 Constitution ensures autonomy of local governments as well as fiscal independence. The local executives added that RA 6716 had long lapsed because Section 5 provides that “the total program shall be completed not later than June 30, 1991.”…

A field in the Aklan is flooded after Typhoon Fengshen hit the region in June 2008. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Joe Painter (Released)