International Community Pressuring Government in Wake of Official’s Assassination

Philippine environmental activist Antonio Oposa, Jr.’s life remains in grave danger after a series of death threats and last week’s brutal murder of one of his closest colleagues.

A broad coalition of environmental activists and international human rights organizations have stepped up their efforts to pressure President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the Philippine government to protect Mr. Oposa and his family and to investigate the brutal murder of Elpidio “Jojo” de la Victoria, a Cebu City government official and one of Mr. Oposa’s closest friends and colleagues.

Mr. De la Victoria was brutally shot outside his house on Wednesday, April 12. Mr. De la Victoria, whose family witnessed the shooting, died early the next day. Both he and Mr. Oposa had been receiving death threats and had recently learned that a P-1 million bounty had been placed on their heads, possibly in connection to their environmental advocacy.

Cebu City Police Superintendent Mariano Natuel was quoted in local media as saying the murder was “work-related,” referring to Mr. De la Victoria’s efforts to curb over-fishing and blast and cyanide fishing. Days before his murder, Mr. De la Victoria told reporters that a friend had alerted him the bounty on both his and Mr. Oposa’s heads.

Both Mr. Oposa and the late Mr. De la Victoria recently signed a broadly-supported petition to close the Visayan Sea to commercial fishing and blast and cyanide fishing. The proposal resulted from a University of Philippines study demonstrating the extent to which the area has been over-fished.

The Visayan Sea lies at the heart of the Sulu Sulawesi Marine Triangle – one of the Philippines’ most threatened and biologically rich natural resources. The triangle is so rich in fish and coral life that one square kilometer of its coral reef contains more species of coral than all the coral of the Caribbean Sea. But harmful, unsustainable human practices now threaten the area’s biodiversity, bringing it to the verge of near total collapse. Blast and cyanide fishing methods and general overfishing have depleted the Visayan Sea by as much as 95 percent of its marine life and 99 percent of its coral. Along with Mr. De la Victoria, Mr. Oposa launched the Visayan Sea Squadron in January 2004 to protect the Visayan Sea and educate local populations on sustainable fishing practices.

Additional information and updates on Tony Oposa's situation are available at http://www.pielc.org/OposaIndex.htm.

For more information, please contact Scott Stone at sstone@inece.org. (Mr. Oposa serves on the Executive Planning Committee for the International Network for Environmental Compliance & Enforcement).