In 1992, the Americans completed its withdrawal from the Philippines, ending almost a century
of U.S. military presence. However, it was soon discovered that the U.S. left behind several
contaminated sites at its former military bases in the Philippines due to inadequate hazardous waste
management. It appears that the U.S. Department of Defense failed to implement clear and consistent
environmental policies at Clark and Subic.
The U.S. maintains that it is under no obligation to undertake further cleanup at its former
installations inasmuch as the Philippines has waived its right to do so under the basing agreement. It
will be argued that the Philippines made no such waiver under the Manglapus-Schultz Agreement. Thus,
the U.S. remains responsible under international law for the resulting environmental damage at its
former bases.
States have the responsibility under customary international law to ensure that activities within
their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other states. A state will be
responsible if it breaches this international obligation. It will be argued that the U.S. breached its
obligation under international law when activities within its effective control caused significant
environmental damage to areas forming part of Philippine territory. Such a breach may also result in the
violation of the emerging right to a healthy environment. Existing human rights, such as the right to
life and health, right to food and water, right to a safe and healthy working environment and right to
information, will be applied from an environmental perspective to determine whether the Filipinos'
right to a healthy environment was violated.
While a legal claim can be made for the remediation of the environment and compensation of the
victims, it will be argued that existing mechanisms for the settlement and adjudication of international
claims are inadequate. States are generally reluctant to submit to the jurisdiction of international
tribunals and most of these fora do not allow non-state entities to appear before them. Thus, it would be
argued that the most promising approach may well be through political and diplomatic means.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/12138 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Mercado, Josine Ruth Remorca |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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