SC won’t issue blanket order for forest protection

The Supreme Court has thrown out for lack of merit a petition seeking a blanket order for government to restore denuded mountains and depleted mangroves across the country.

In a resolution issued on Oct. 20, the high court junked a petition that lawyer Rodrigo Cruz filed against President Aquino and the Congress, through Senate President Franklin Drilon and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

“The court resolved to dismiss the petition for mandamus for lack of merit,” said an en banc notice on the resolution signed by Clerk of Court Felipa Anama. The full resolution has yet to be released.

The petition asked the high court to direct the government to undertake “reforestation from Aparri to Jolo,” saying trees could “erase acute shortage of lumber, ensure sufficient water supply, and solve [the] acute shortage of and high cost of seafoods.”

Cruz invoked Article II, Sections 9 and 16 of the Constitution in asking the high court to direct the President and other respondents “to act with haste regarding climate change with fatal adverse effects” already affecting the country. Tarra Quismundo