Atty. Antonio A. Oposa, Jr. - Lecturer, ChanRobles LawNet's 2004 MCLE Lecture Series

ATTY. ANTONIO A. OPOSA, JR. . SUITE 6-J WESTGATE TOWER
INVESTMENT DRIVE, MADRIGAL BUSINESS PARK
AYALA ALABANG, MUNTINLUPA CITY 1780
THE PHILIPPINES
TELEFAX (632) 809-6122 or 809-3176
Email: thelawofnature@axti.com
oposa@axti.com

Atty. Antonio A. Oposa, Jr. pioneered the practice of Environmental Law in the Philippines and is one of Asia’s leading voices in the international arena of Environmental Law. For his trail-blazing efforts to advance Environmental Law enforcement, he received The Outstanding Young Man of the Philippines Award (the prestigious TOYM in the field of law) and the highest United Nations environmental award, the U.N. Environmental Programme (UNEP) Global 500 Roll of Honor.

He is the author of two internationally-acclaimed books: One is a story and picture book entitled The Laws of Nature and Other Stories and the other, a comprehensive reference book of the Philippine Environmental Laws, cases and notes entitled A Legal Arsenal for the Philippine Environment.

He received his law degree from the University of the Philippines and his Master of Laws from the Harvard Law School, where he was the commencement speaker of the graduating class. He is a professor of Environmental Law of the UP College of Law and of the Philippine Judicial Academy and advisor to a wide range of clientele – ranging from pro bono farmers and fishermen’s groups to Governments and international agencies like the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the US Agency for International Development.

He is the only Asian member of the Executive Committee of the Washington DC-based International Network for Environmental Enforcement, Chairman of the newly-created National Environmental Action Team of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, and Chairman and President of the Bank of Ormoc.

For recreation, he is a scuba diver, a master horseman, tennis and sailing buff, writer, and a natural gardening aficionado. Along some of the coastlines in the central Philippine Island of Bantayan, he and a group of volunteers have put up a marine enforcement center and youth camp to establish a network of bird and marine sanctuaries.

He recently organized and led a raid of a composite team of enforcement operatives from the NBI, Navy SEALs, Maritime Police and Bantay Dagat. They seized one ton of blasting powder -- equivalent to some 6,000 dynamite sticks or ten times the destructive power of the explosion that rocked in Bali, Indonesia. The culprits were arrested and are now in jail, and intensive investigation is going on to identify the financiers and backers of the illegal manufacture of blasting caps to bring them before the bar of justice.