20th General Assembly of Diocesan Association of GKK Practitioners Held
More than 5,000 members of the Association of GKK practitioners congregated on November 13, 2010 at the South Cotabato Cultural Center, City of Koronadal.
Theme: “GKKs Promote the Writ of Kalikasan, Peace and Good Governance”.
Objectives:
1. Expected 3,000 delegates know the content of the Writ of Kalikasan for purposes of peace and good governance.
2. Bonding among the delegates has been strengthened.
3. Officers for 2011 – 2012 have been elected.
4. Deepen one’s relationship with God through the mass.
Main activities: (1) talk on the theme by Fr. Romeo Catedral, Diocesan Director, Social Action Center; (2) Socialization; (3) Election; (4) Mass presided by Fr. Elpidio Marintes, Jr., Chair, Commission on Christian Formation.
Writ of Kalikasan.
This is Rule 7, Rules of Procedure for Environmental Cases, Supreme Court, April 29, 2010.
Section 1. Nature of this Writ.
“A remedy available to a natural or juridical person, entity authorized by law…on behalf of persons whose constitutional right to a balanced and healthful ecology is violated, or threatened with violation by an unlawful act or omission of a public official or employee, or private individual or entity, involving environmental damage of such magnitude as to prejudice the life, health or property of inhabitants in two or more cities or provinces”.
Section 3. Where to file. “The petition shall be filed with the Supreme Court or with any of the stations of the Court of Appeals”.
FIRST CASE
Last November 19, 2010, “the Supreme Court ordered the First Philippine Industrial Corp. (FPIC) to stop operating a 117-kilometer-long pipeline after an oil leakage disruptive fuel supplies to Manila, polluted deep wells, caused traffic jams and dislodged scores of families from their homes” (Philippine Daily Inquirer, November 20, 2010, p. 1)
PDI continues: “The Court issued a Temporary Environmental Protection Order (TEPO) against FPIC after granting the petition for a “Writ of Kalikasan” sought by residents of West Tower Condominium in Makati City – the first time such an order involving environmental cases had come down from the country’s highest tribunal, lawyers said” (ibid.).
