Jurisdiction of the Commission The human rights violations or threats of violations that are the subject of this Petition include the rights of the Filipinos (a) to life; (b) to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; (c) to food; (d) to water; (e) to sanitation; (f) to adequate housing; (g) to selfdetermination; and (h) of those particularly likely to be affected by climate change, including (1) women; (2) children; (3) persons with disabilities; (4) those living in extreme poverty; (5) indigenous peoples; (6) displaced persons; and (7) workers; as well as the right of Filipinos to development. While the adjunct rights to health13 and to a balanced and healthful ecology,14 known collectively as environmental rights, are not listed under the Bill of Rights, they are included in the subject of this Petition. The exchange between Commissioners Bennagen and Nolledo during the deliberations of the 1986 Constitutional Convention supports the general idea that environmental rights are included in the complete concept of human rights.15 Their importance is explained in Oposa v. Factoran: As a matter of fact, these basic rights need not even be written in the Constitution for they are assumed to exist from the inception of humankind. If they are now explicitly mentioned in the fundamental charter, it is because of the well-founded fear of its framers that unless the rights to a balanced and healthful ecology and to health are mandated as state policies by the Constitution itself, thereby highlighting their continuing importance and imposing upon the state a solemn obligation to preserve the first and protect and advance the second, the day would not be too far when all else would be lost not only for the present generation, but also for those to come – generations which stand to inherit nothing but parched earth incapable of sustaining life.16 This Petition is therefore within the scope of the Commission’s jurisdiction under Rule 2 of the Omnibus Rules of Procedure of the CHR, to wit: Rule 2. Scope of CHR jurisdiction Section 1. Pursuant to Sections 17 to 19, Article XIII of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, in relation to Executive Order No. 163, dated 5 May 1987, and relevant international human rights !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 13 CONST. art. II, § 15. CONST. art. II, § 16. 15 Sub-Committee on the Rules of Procedure for Environmental Cases, Rationale to the Rules of Procedure for Environmental Cases, 59-60, paragraph 3, Apr. 2010. 16 Oposa v. Factoran, Jr., G.R. No. 101083, July 30, 1993, 224 SCRA 792. 14 ! 7! ! ! ! ! !