Segovia et al. v. Climate Change Commission

Summary:

On March 7, 2017 the Supreme Court of the Philippines dismissed a lawsuit brought by carless people of the Philippines against the government's Climate Change Commission. The petitioners had sought the writs of kalikasan (protection of constitutional rights to a healthy environment) and continuing mandamus to compel the Presidentially-created Climate Change Commission to implement a variety of measures to promote biking and walking and disincentivize car travel. Petitioners based their claims in the Philippine Constitution and Executive Order 774, which designates a task group to reform the transportation sector and follow the principle "those who have less in wheels must have more in road." After the ruling that the petitioners had standing to sue and to bring their case directly to the Supreme Court, the Court dismissed the suit for failing to establish the requisites for the issuance of the writs. The Court found that petitioners had not established that the Commission was guilty of violation or neglect of environmental laws as required by the writ of kalikasan. Further, petitioners failed to prove direct or personal injury arising from the government's failure to act, as required by the writ of continuing mandamus.

At Issue: Whether the Philippine government's Climate Change Commission violated the Philippine violated the constitution by failing to enact ambitious climate-related transportation measures.