Green lawyers offer services to help BFAR

LUCENA CITY—The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) is gearing up for court battles against environmental criminals with the help of an army of volunteer lawyers from the private sector.

Director Asis Perez said he had received many offers of legal assistance from fellow lawyers in and out of the country following the recent seizures of tons of precious and semiprecious corals in the ports of Manila and Zamboanga

“I was overwhelmed. There were lots of text messages from colleagues, mostly environmental lawyers, all volunteering their help in the prosecution. Some of them are even trying to form an international team of lawyers to help the BFAR,” Perez said in an interview here on Saturday.

Welcome development

This is a welcome development, he said, noting that the bureau did not have enough lawyers to handle the volume of cases that it would file against environmental offenders.

“We have to show these environmental criminals that we really mean business. We need all available legal resources to help in the prosecution,” Perez said.

He said he would distribute all volunteer lawyers to different regions.

Before his current post, Perez, was executive director of Tanggol Kalikasan (TK), a public interest law office with advocacy on environmental protection. He was also a member of the special committee that crafted the new Rules of Procedure for Environmental Cases for the Supreme Court.

His appointment as BFAR head was reported in the website of the US-based Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (Elaw), which is composed of 300 green lawyers from 70 countries.

Perez said he had also received offers of donations of some six million “bangus” (milkfish) fingerlings from the private sector to replenish the areas affected by the recent fishkills in Batangas and Pangasinan.

“I was informed by Agriculture Secretary (Proceso) Alcala that Manny Pacquiao will also donate fingerlings. My problem now is to find the places where to temporarily keep the fingerling donation,” he said.

He said the fingerlings would be distributed free to the fishermen. “But operators of illegal fish cages will be excluded,” Perez said.

Coral reef preservation

Perez reiterated that his main focus as BFAR chief would still be on educating the people on the importance of preserving the country’s fragile marine resources, particularly coral reefs. He noted that the prohibition on trading of precious and semiprecious corals started in 1998 but the information had yet to reach the general public.

“Villagers in the coastal areas were not aware of the prohibitions. The only thing that they knew is that the corals are saleable items. The illegal traders were the only one aware of the law, though I cannot discount the possibility that some government people in the area are actually tolerating the underground business,” he said.