BFAR, PCSDS ask DOJ to junk Agra's ruling on 9 Chinese

The country's fisheries sector has asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) — whose present chief is Secretary Leila de Lima — to reverse former Secretary Alberto Agra's "midnight" decision dropping the poaching case against nine Chinese nationals. Some time in May, the Philippine Coast Guard placed under its custody nine Chinese nationals after they were caught poaching for marine turtles in the Palawan area. The Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR) and the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development Staff (PCSDS) have formally filed a motion for reconsideration for the DOJ to set aside Agra’s earlier ruling, said BFAR national director Malcolm Sarmiento Jr. "[Agra] failed to consider that RA 8550 is a special law enacted to regulate fishing in Philippine waters. Thus, violation of its provisions shall be considered mala prohibita or acts that are punishable only because they are prohibited by law and not mala en se or acts that are inherently immoral," BFAR and PCSDS said in a joint statement. "[Agra] erroneously took – hook, line and sinker – respondents' claim that the place of apprehension is not within the territorial sea of the Philippines, when such issue can be properly ventilated during a full-blown trial as it is evidentiary in nature," the statement added. "There was deprivation of the right to due process of the complainants because they were not given a chance to file a comment to the petition for review filed by the respondents," BFAR and PCSDS said. Also, the BFAR, PCSDS and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources have filed a criminal complaint with the Palawan Provincial Prosecutors Office for violations of Philippine fisheries laws. The Chinese nationals allegedly violated the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998 (RA 8550) and the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act (RA 9147). Carmelina Guevarra, Palawan associate provincial prosecutor, found sufficient evidence to indict the respondents for violation of RA 8550 and RA 9147. In a resolution dated June 29, 2010, Agra directed the provincial prosecutor of Palawan to withdraw the information that were filed against the respondents for lack of criminal intent, a necessary element in cases of mala en se or crimes that are inherently immoral. "Considering that criminal intent should concur with the elements of Section 87 of RA 8550, we find that there is no probable cause to hold the respondents for violation thereof," he said. Sarmiento said that the resolution signed by Agra — if not withdrawn — would create serious implications since the respondents claimed they were in Chinese territorial waters, when it was clearly established and, in fact, admitted by them that they were in coordinates that were only 50 miles west of Balabac, Palawan. —JE/VS, GMANews.TV