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 self-determination; 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 wellfounded 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
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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.
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