Petition Letter: Against Hunger and Plunder in the Seas of Central Philippines

To:

Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
President of the Philippines
Malacañang Palace
Manila Philippines
Voice: (+632) 564 1451 to 80
Fax: (+632) 742-1641 / 929-3968
Cell#: (+ 63) 919 898 4622 / (+63) 917 839 8462
E-mail: corres@op.gov.ph
Alternate E-mail (Executive Secretary): erermita@op.gov.ph

Ms. Louise Arbor
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations Office at Geneva
1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Fax: + 41 22 917 9022
E-mail: tb-petitions@ohchr.org

Mr. Olivier De Schutter
UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food
United Nations Office at Geneva,
CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Fax: +41 22 917 9006
Email: srfood@ohchr.org

Hon. Leila M. De Lima
Chairperson
Commission on Human Rights
SAAC Building, Commonwealth Avenue
UP Complex, Diliman, Quezon City
Tel: +632-928-5655 ; +632- 926-6188/ +632-929-0102
Email: atty_delima@yahoo.com.ph

Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia
Governor of Cebu
2/F East Wing, Cebu Capitol
Tel: (+6332)253-961
Email: gov@cebu.gov.ph

Sec. Angelo T. Reyes
Secretary
Department of Energy (DOE)
Tel: +632-840-22-86, +632-840-21-92, +632-840-61-94
Fax: +632-840-17-31
Email: satr@doe.gov.ph

Sec. Jose L. Atienza, Jr.
Secretary,
DENR
Email: hea@denr.gov.ph

DENR Reg. Dir. Leonardo Sibbaluca
Greenplain Subdivision
Banilad, Cebu City
Tel. No. (+6332) 345-6108

Dir. Antonio E. Labios
DOE Reg 7
11th Floor Metrobank Plaza
Osmena Blvd. Cebu City
Tel No. 253-2150

Vadm Wilfredo D Tamayo PCG
Commandant, Philippine Coast Guard
Office of the Vice Commandant for Operation, PCG (O/VCO)
Philippine Coast Guard
Email: cg1_pcg@yahoo.com

Atty. Malcolm I. Sarmiento Jr.
Director
Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR)
Email: bfarmfdc@bfar.gov.ph

Jill Thomas
Investor Relations Manager
OttoEnergy-NorAsian
Tel: +61 (8) 6467 8800
Mobile: +61 439 440 016
Email: thomas@ottoenergy.com

To all concerned authorities:

This is to express concern over the findings of a recent International Fact-Finding Mission by the Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP), People's Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS) and Central Visayas Fisherfolk Development Center (Fidec) on the effects of off-shore oil and gas exploration activities in the protected seascape of Tañon Strait and Cebu-Bohol Strait in Central Philippines.

The Tañon Strait is one of the world's most unique and important centers for marine biodiversity, a breeding ground for 14 species of cetaceans. Cebu-Bohol Strait, meanwhile, hosts nearby the Danajon Double Barrier Reefs Bank, one of only six double barrier reefs in the world.

However, due to service contracts awarded by the Philippine government to the Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. Ltd. (Japex) and the Australia-based NorAsia Energy Ltd., environmentally-destructive seismic surveys and drilling operations have been conducted in the area even without prior consultation with local communities and government officials. As a result, fish catch has declined by 70 to 80 percent, causing hunger and displacement of thousands of small fisherfolk in the provinces of Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental, and Negros Occidental. They have been banned from fishing while exploration activities were ongoing and thus denied of their constitutional rights over municipal waters and their basic right to food and livelihood. A scientific study also indicates that these activities have disturbed the natural habitat of dolphins and whales.

We are calling on concerned authorities to immediately call for the cancellation of the said service contracts, which are now being questioned before the Philippines' Supreme Court by fisherfolk groups and even the cetaceans themselves, in a landmark case in Southeast Asia. The impact of continued oil and gas exploration is an estimated cut in the domestic fish production in the Philippines by twenty percent for the next 10 to 20 years. It will also starve thousands of fisherfolk families. Already, children have stopped schooling and women have been forced to look for domestic work in the cities.

It is also bothersome that instead of recognizing and responding to the resistance to off-shore mining by fisherfolk communities, environmentalists, students, lawyers and other professionals, the Philippine government seems bent on pursuing the contracts and has even deployed the military in certain areas to harass local leaders.

We call on the Philippine government to instead craft and implement measures to reduce oil dependency and carbon emission. In the era where global warming and climate change is already threatening the survival of poor Filipino communities, it is morally irresponsible for corporations and government leaders to profit from the misery of the marginalized and to rob future generations of sustainable use of a rich and irreplaceable ecosystem.

Signed,

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