Gozun defends revocation of guidelines

Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Elisea Gozun defended yesterday her decision to revoke an administrative order setting guidelines on the delineation of municipal waters.

Gozun revoked DAO-17 last March 17 after the Department of Justice ruled that the Department of Agriculture (DA), not the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, should draw up the guidelines.

The questioned order prohibited commercial fishing within 15 kilometers from the shoreline and banned the use of active fishing gear and fine-mesh nets in municipal waters.

The order was issued under the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998 by former Secretary Heherson Alvarez.

"We understand the plight of our small fisherfolk and fully support efforts to protect their interests. However, our hands are tied because of this DOJ opinion," Gozun said.

"Rest assured that we will continue to work with the DA and other groups to uplift the lives of our small fishermen," she added.

Various groups, including the House committee on appropriations and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, had questioned the validity of DAO-17.

Because of this, the matter was brought to the DOJ, which initially declined to render a legal opinion, saying it only rules "on questions of law and not on highly technical matters."

The question, however, did not end there, even when Gozun took over the DENR and Luis Lorenzo Jr. assumed as agriculture secretary.

Last Feb. 4, the two officials jointly issued DENR-DA Special Order No. 2003-85 constituting a technical committee to study the matter.

The committee was made up of representatives from the academe (Silliman University and the UP Marine Science Institute), the legislature (the House and Senate committees on environment and natural resources), local government units (Leagues of Municipalities and Cities), and direct stakeholders (commercial fishers and small fisherfolk).

However, Gozun was informed that the DOJ had issued Opinion No. 100 dated Nov. 27, 2002 apparently in response to the clarification or consideration of DOJ Opinion No. 62 (2001) filed by the chairman of the House committee on appropriations.

The DOJ opinion states that by law, "it is the (DA) that shall authorize the Namria (National Mapping Resources Information Authority) to perform the delineation of municipal waters. This power vested in such a department carries with it the authority to issue the guidelines."

"The import of the opinion is that the DENR has no authority to issue the guidelines in the first place," Gozun said.