Cebu town asks SC to reconsider ruling on commercial fishing case

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – A municipality in Bantayan island in Cebu, along with environmental groups, asked the Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday to take a second look at its decision that favored a commercial fishing corporation seeking to fish in municipal waters meant for fisherfolk.

In its-28-page petition for intervention, the municipality of Sta. Fe in Bantayan, Cebu, represented by Mayor Ithamar Espinosa, and Oceana Phils. Intl. asked the SC to reverse the court’s resolution and remand the case back to the Malabon Regional Trial Court (RTC).

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An SC resolution dated Aug. 19 had affirmed the Malabon RTC decision declaring portions of the Fisheries Code (Republic Act 8550) unconstitutional after the high court said pleadings filed by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) in the case had been filed “out of time” and without any “legal basis.”

The Malabon RTC had rendered the ruling in the suit filed by private Navotas-based commercial fishing firm, Mercidar Fishing Corp., which filed a petition for declaratory relief on Oct. 25, 2023. The case was decided by the court two months later on Dec. 11 that year.

Among the portions of the Fisheries Code invalidated by the Malabon court was Sec. 16 on the jurisdiction of the municipal government to regulate commercial fishing in municipal waters of up to 15 km. from the shoreline.

The RTC also struck down the outright ban on commercial fishing in waters with a depth of less than seven fathoms.

“Judicial restraint, caution, and forbearance are entirely absent from the decision of the RTC of Malabon. Setting aside the breakneck speed of the proceedings, the RTC provided absolutely no amount of deference that demands an interpretation of the Constitution that would give life to the law instead of destroying it,” the petitioners said.

“Instead, the court engaged in a haphazard constitutional interpretation that sought to kill the established legislative policy of protecting municipal fisherfolk and empowering LGUs (local government units).”

The petitioners said all proceedings and orders before the RTC Malabon Br. 170, including its decision dated Dec. 11, 2023, are void for violating due process and for lack of jurisdiction for the failure of the respondent to implead indispensable parties.

“The remand to the RTC is in order when, during appeal, the plaintiff is found to have failed to implead any indispensable party,” they said. (PNA)