Almost three weeks after the Japan Exploration Company (Japex) pulled out its oil rig from the Tañon Strait, the company has tapped a third party expert to evaluate samples taken beneath the seabed.It will take two to three months to finish the examination and determine if the Tañon Strait has oil or gas deposits of commercial quantity. Director Antonio Labios of the Department of Enery (DOE) yesterday said Japex asked a firm in Japan or Australia to conduct independent examination of the drilling samples. In the meantime, the local multi-partite monitoring team will present their report on the two-month oil drilling activities within the Tañon Strait, said Labios. He said the team will present their data and answer queries about the environmental impact and effect on fishermen. Several environment groups and militant fisherfolk organizations have charged that the fish catch was reduced since the start of the oil exploration. A novel lawsuit was filed in the Supreme Court (SC) on behalf of dolphins and mammals in the Tañon Strait asking the court to stop the oil drilling and declare the activity as illegal. Cabinet secretaries and local officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, DOE and Japex were sued for allowing the oil drilling activity at the Tañon Strait. Lawyer Gloria Estenzo-Ramos, in a separate interview, said that the environment defense team will meet this week to discuss their pending petitions before the SC now that the High Tribunal took cognizance of their cases. They will also discuss their plans to file a new case against government officials who allowed the waiver of Japex’s payment of a user’s fee that amounted to P566 million. Cases for violation of Republic Act 8550 or the Fisheries Code of the Philippines, section 105 will be filed against several government officials for the obstruction of defined migratory paths, Ramos said. Administrative cases for gross misconduct will also be filed correspondingly aside from the civil case, she added. “The waiving of the user's fee is really an act prejudicial to the government and we can't understand why our government officials waived that. They even charged fishermen for a user's fee. We will also ask for damages and we already asked the Fisherfolk Development Center to list the damages incurred by the fisherfolk,” she said. | 
