MANILA, Philippines—Residents living near banana plantations in Davao City on Friday asked the Supreme Court to reverse a Court of Appeals ruling that invalidated a local ordinance banning the aerial spraying of pesticides.

The Mamamayan Ayaw sa Aerial Spray (MAAS) said aerial spraying had affected about 40,000 people living in seven villages near and around banana plantations operated by the Davao Fruits Corp. and the Lapanday Agricultural and Development Corp.

Lawyer Arnold de Vera of the Sentro ng Alternatibong Lingap Panligal (Saligan), a group rendering free legal service to affected residents, said the CA injunction prevented the city government from enforcing Ordinance No. 0309-07 which took effect on Mar. 23, 2007.

De Vera assisted affected residents in filing a petition for certiorari at the Supreme Court on Friday.

He told reporters that the ordinance enjoyed the presumption of legality and that its continued enforcement cannot and should not be stopped by an injunction.

The injunction was causing “continued, irreversible harm” to the health of the people and the environment, he said.

In a press conference, co-petitioner Corazon Sabinada and MAAs spokesperson Dagohoy Magaway recounted how they and other villagers would run for cover and shut themselves inside their houses whenever they hear the pesticide-carrying aircraft approach the plantation to spray pesticide.

“We can no longer endure years of being sprayed with pesticides. We can still inhale the pesticide even if we locked ourselves up. Many of us are getting sick. Our eyes and skin get irritated and the leaves of my vegetables would curl every time there’s an aerial spraying,” Sabinada recounted.

Many children have developed respiratory problems and skin allergies because of the pesticide, she said.

Magaway said spraying began in 2000 and in recent years was done about thrice a week.

He said water in their wells and in streams have become undrinkable.

During the hearings that led to the adoption of the ordinance, the residents learned that the pesticides being sprayed were actually fungicide, intended to prevent banana fruits from fungal attacks.

The residents are also up against the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association, which originally filed a civil case at the Davao Regional Trial Court questioning the constitutionality of the ordinance.

On Sept. 22, 2007, the Davao City RTC upheld the constitutionality and validity of the said ordinance. PBGEA appealed to the Court of Appeals on Oct. 18. The 22nd Division of the CA in Cagayan de Oro City granted the association’s plea for a temporary restraining order on Nov. 16 and for a preliminary injunction on Jan. 28, 2008.