Memorandum for the Petitioners | 21
vires as a matter of Philippines law for the purposes of the
current Inquiry.
Furthermore, the Commission’s jurisdiction under
the Constitution to consider breaches of economic, social
and cultural rights in exercising its functions is beyond
dispute. Sections 18(6) and 18(7) give the Commission a
very broad mandate to, respectively, recommend to
Congress effective measures to promote human rights and to
monitor the Philippine Government’s compliance with
international treaty obligations on human rights. In
exercising both of these functions, the Commission is free to
determine the manner in which it will inform itself to make
such recommendations or to conduct such monitoring,
including by conducting a public inquiry.
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The Supreme Court has also maintained this holistic
interpretation of human rights in domestic law, recognizing
socio-economic rights as justiciable.
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Subsequent jurisprudence has maintained both the
self-executing character of the right to a balanced and
healthful ecology and the correlative obligations to which
this right attach.
In sum, the legislative provisions on the
Commission’s mandate and their interpretation, in line with
established Philippine Supreme Court’s case law, leave no
doubt over the Commission’s jurisdiction to hear the petition
pursuant to each, or any, of its investigation,
recommendatory or monitoring functions.59
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4.3. In their Consolidated Reply dated 10 February 2019, petitioners
extensively discussed and refuted respondents’ objections to the Honorable
Commission’s authority to conduct the investigation against them . All the
arguments and discussion contained in said Consolidated Reply relative
thereto are hereby adopted and incorporated in this memorandum to avoid
needless duplication.
4.4. Significantly, petitioners’ position on this issue of authority to
investigate and the Honorable Commission’s action was similarly carried in
the various amicus curiae briefs submitted in support of the petitioners and
further echoed in the Joint Summary of the Amicus Curiae dated 19 March
2018 submitted by different amici experts.60
59
60
Id.
See Joint Summary of the Amicus Curiae; supra note 50, pp.11-20.
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