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CA junks petition for Writ of Kalikasan vs. Meralco
By Perfecto T. Raymundo Jr.

MANILA, Jan. 31 (PNA) - The Court of Appeals (CA) dismissed on Monday the petition filed by the residents of the cities of Makati and Pasay seeking the issuance of a Writ of Kalikasan stopping the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) from constructing a power substation and installing sub-transmission lines in their areas because of health and security concerns.

In a 24-page decision penned by Associate Justice Stephen Cruz, the CA's former Seventeenth Division ruled that contrary to the claim of the residents of Barangay 183 of Pasay City and Magallanes Village in Makati City, Meralco's power lines "do not pose a threat, immediate or otherwise" to their health.

Concurring with the decision were Associate Justices Isaias Dicdican and Franchito Diamante.

In their petition, the residents asked the CA to order the respondents to cease and desist from conducting excavation works, installing poles and transmission lines along the entire stretch of 10th, 12th and 27th Streets of Barangay 183 and from energizing and transmitting high voltage electric current through the said power lines.

The 30-foot-high posts will hold the transmission lines which will supply more or less 115 kilovolts of power to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Centennial Terminal 3.

The petitioners claimed that the lines and electric posts are being erected very near their properties, thus, putting their health and security at risk.

They noted that some of these posts, which will carry tremendous amount of electricity, have not been erected properly while others are tilting in an apparently unstable position.

Nonetheless, the CA stressed that the data gathered and presented by the petitioners to support their claim are "purely statistical in nature" and lack scientific evidence or conclusion that the high-tension wires emit electromagnetic fields (EMFs) which cause leukemia to children.

It noted that scientists themselves are currently unable to establish the link between leukemia and EMFs.

"As such, no bases may be culled from any of petitioners' evidence to warrant the issuance of a Writ of Kalikasan... In the instance before us, the burden of proof lies with petitioners. In failing to prove the causal link between the illnesses feared and the EMF generating from Meralco's power lines, petitioners have, in fact, failed to discharge this evidentiary evidence," the CA ruled.

Likewise, the CA ruled that Meralco complied with all the environmental standards mandated under existing laws, as shown in the clearances issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

The power firm, the CA said, has also met the height and distance requirements under the Philippine Electrical Code (PEC).

It noted that the horizontal clearance or the distance of the electric wire from the building followed by Meralco in erecting electric posts is approximately three meters which is far wider than what is required by the law, which is 2.87 meters.

On the other hand, the vertical clearance or the distance of the electric wires from ground is required under the PEC to be 22.6 meters while those of Meralco are between 90 feet and 105 feet.

The CA did not give credence to the allegations of the petitioners that the electric wires are installed too close to their houses while the posts tilted on the direction of their houses.

It explained that during the preliminary conference of the case, the petitioners failed to state with certainty the distance of the electrical wire from the house of one of the petitioners or show the tilting of the posts.

"We emphasize that Meralco's operation is not illegal or unlawful to begin with... More importantly, Meralco's installations was undertaken in compliance firstly to the requisites under various statues, environmental and otherwise," it said.

"Secondly, it (Meralco) obtained the necessary permits to realize its operations under close scrutiny from government agencies concerned. Simply put, none of its operations is violative of any law and, as such, may not be labelled unlawful," it added. (PNA)

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