SC asked: Compel gov’t to preserve forestlands

CEBU CITY — To save the country’s remaining forest—lands, a group of lawyers recently petitioned the Supreme Court to compel the government to work for the enactment of a law determining specific boundaries of forestlands and national parks, as required by the Constitution.

Lawyer Antonio Oposa, who headed the lawyers’ group, said the framers of the 1987 Constitution cited the urgency of protecting our forestlands but 17 years later, no law has been passed to address this concern.

Oposa said Section 4 of Article 1 of the Constitution provides that "Congress shall, as soon as possible, determine the law (setting) the specific limits of forestlands and national parks, marking their boundaries clearly on the ground."

In the petition, the group said the Office of the President, the two chambers of Congress and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources must now formulate laws that would implement the constitutional mandate to save the country’s remaining forestlands.

Oposa said the Constitution mandates that at least 50 percent of the country’s forestlands must be maintained to secure ecological balance. — Freeman News Service