Manila, April 24 -- 1987 Constitution framer Christian Monsod, Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, and the Environmental Legal Assistance Center on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling allowing commercial fishing within municipal waters.

The petitioners are challenging a December 2023 ruling by the Malabon Regional Trial Court (RTC), which invalidated key provisions of Republic Act 8550, or the Fisheries Code.

They said the RTC decision struck down local government jurisdiction over municipal waters and the law's mandate to give preferential access to small-scale fishers, effectively erasing what they described as "wholesale constitutional and statutory protections" for coastal communities.

"Allowing commercial ...