08/12/2022
COURT DISSOLVES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ORDER ON SEAWALL PROJECT IN NARRA
The Regional Trial Branch 51 has decided to lift the Temporary Environmental Protection Order (TEPO) on a seawall project in Barangay Calategas, Narra, Palawan due to the failure of petitioners to show proof of the adverse environmental impact of the project to the people and the environment.
The 9-page decision of RTC Branch 51 signed by Acting Presiding Paul B. Jagmis, Jr. dated November 21, 2022 and received by the parties on 05 December 2022, said that “while there is evidence that the project affects the people and the environment petitioners failed to show that it has actual, immediate, and direct on them thereby causing grave and irreparable injury to them.”
The petitioners of the case are Roxanne R. Barlas, Teofilo T. Tredez, Cecille D. Garbino, and Reyland Rodriguez.
On July 7, 2022, the court issued a 72-hour TEPO against respondents Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) represented by Secretary Manuel Bonoan, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) represented by Acting Secretary Jim O. Sampluna, Palawan Council for Sustainable Development represented by Executive Director Teodoro Jose S. Matta, Municipality of Narra represented by Mayor Gerandy Danao, St. Timothy Construction Corporation/ PTK Group, Inc., and their officers, enjoining them to cease and desist from constructing and ex*****on of seawall with an access road project in Brgy. Calategas, Narra, Palawan.
A TEPO is an order by the court directing or enjoining any person or government to perform or desist from performing an act to protect, preserve or rehabilitate the environment.
A TEPO is premised on environmental law or threatened damage, or injury to the environment by any person, even the government and its agencies.
The court found out from the evidence of respondents, after a series of assessment, validation and test conducted before the construction of the project, that “ the Seawall Project is necessary to control and mitigate the effect of fluvial flooding and severe waves and storm surges brought by typhoons.”
The court said that the continued effectivity of the TEPO would cause irreparable injury on the part of the government, the residents of Purok Tabing-Dagat and Purok Pinag-isa, Brgy. Calategas, and the taxpayers.
“To save the properties and lives of the residents in the area and considering that it is during this season that strong typhoon hit the country, the Court finds the necessity of lifting and dissolving the TEPO,” according to the nine-page decision of the court.
It added that continuance of the TEPO would cause irreparable damage to the government.
The court further stated that while damage to the private respondent can be measured and is subject to mathematical computation, the damage brought to the government, including the danger to the life and property of its people, by the unfinished seawall and the strong typhoons cannot be recompensed with and cannot be remedied under any standard of compensation.
According to Richard B. Padilla, a resident of the area, their house is usually damaged by the storm surge because the soil is washed out by seawater.
If the TEPO is not lifted and the structural integrity of the project is compromised, the project will no longer serve its purpose, and it will be a waste of taxpayers’ money.
The private contractor St. Timothy Construction/PTK Group Inc. joint venture has been represented by Atty. Gabriel P. Olandesca, while the DPWH and the DENR were both represented by the OSG.