Meralco asks CA to junk writ of kalikasan petition

The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) on Monday asked the Court of Appeals (CA) to deny the writ of kalikasan (environmental writ) petition filed by Pasay and Makati residents seeking to stop the power utility from installing and activating high-tension wires they claimed to be health hazards. Lawyer Patricia Ann Prodigalidad, lead counsel for Meralco, said the residents are not entitled to the writ, which covers environmental risks, not health hazards. "The remedy they asked for is not something they're entitled to, because it's not an environmental issue. We have tried to distinguish that a person's right to health is different from protecting the environment. And the writ of kalikasan is there to protect the environment and not the individual’s health," Prodigalidad said in an interview after the CA's 17th Division held a preliminary conference on the matter. Last November, residents of Magallanes Village in Makati City and Barangay 183 near the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City asked the CA to issue the writ and an accompanying temporary environmental protection order (TEPO) to prevent Meralco from mounting the transmission lines in their communities. They also said that “energizing" or activating the high-tension wires will pose health hazards like developing leukemia. The TEPO is among the remedies provided by the landmark writ of kalikasan, which was created by the Supreme Court only in April 2010. The extraordinary remedy, said to be the first of its kind in the world, is expected to speed up legal action on environmental cases filed in courts throughout the country. No health risks In the Monday interview, Prodigalidad argued that the transmission lines do not pose health risks. Citing studies by the World Health Organization and the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), Meralco's lawyer said "there are no causal links between the feared magnetic fields and the illnesses that the [residents] think will happen to them if they're exposed to [the magnetic fields]." "The concern really about the health hazard has been blown out of proportion. We have more risks under these [fluorescent] lights than we do with those wires. I think we just have to be more informed so that the fear is gone," said Prodigalidad. But the residents' counsel, Harry Roque, however said there are studies that show that exposure to high-tension wires can cause illnesses like leukemia. "Sabi ng Meralco ay walang ebidensiyang scientific. Sabi naman namin, marami nang nagkakasakit at namamatay sa leukemia (The Meralco said there is no scientific evidence. But for us, a lot already got sick and died of leukemia)," Roque said in a separate interview. – MRT, GMANews.TV