A FIGHT NOT THEIRS ALONE Small-time fishers, like those photographed here in March at a fish port in Noveleta, Cavite, have found an ally in the Office of the Solicitor General in appealing a Supreme Court ruling in January that shielded commercial fishing companies from stricter government monitoring. —Niño Jesus Orbeta
MANILA, Philippines — Government lawyers are asking the Supreme Court to reverse its recent decision declaring as illegal the round-the-clock monitoring of commercial fishing vessels, arguing that policies must protect the rights of ordinary folk to a sustainable livelihood and not the interests of a few.
“(Fishing operators) shrewdly frame the issues of this case as an arbitrary oppression that destroys their economic or proprietary rights,” the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) said in its 86-page motion for reconsideration filed on Aug. 14.
The OSG, with Solicitor General Darlene Berberabe at the helm, is representing the Department of Agriculture (DA), Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), and the National Telecommunications Commission as petitioners.
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