According to Cabrido, exploratory drilling operations conducted by JAPEX in late 2007 until early 2008 displaced dolphins and other marine species in the area, causing them to move away from their natural territory. Drilling operations also damaged the protected seascape and likewise displaced and affected the livelihood resource of over 40,000 local fisherfolk.

This decision marks the first time that marine mammals won a court case in the Philippines, he says further. When the case was first filed in December 2007, the lawyer was mocked for being filed on behalf of toothed whales, dolphins, porpoises, and other cetacean species.

Estenzo-Ramos noted that the development is a landmark ruling which should prevent any project which destroys the ecological integrity especially of a protected seascape."

The Supreme Court also ruled that the contract is in violation of the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act of 1992 (Republic Act No. 7586), which protects critical natural habitats such as Taon Strait from resource exploitation.

In 2007, one of the pioneer actions in the campaign against the operations of JAPEX in the Taon Strait protected seascape was the project, Urgent Environmental Legal Action Against Oil Exploration in the Visayas, an initiative of the Central Visayas Fisherfolk Development Center (FIDEC) funded through small grant awarded by FPE.