Protests vs aerial spray still alive, growing louder

DAVAO CITY—Groups campaigning against aerial spraying are calling on President Benigno Aquino to issue an executive order banning crop dusters nationwide and urging the Supreme Court to uphold the legality of the ban in the city.

“We’re calling on the Supreme Court to decide fast on the issue in our favor and put an end to our suffering,” said Dagohoy Magaway, the head of the group Mamamayan Ayaw sa Aerial Spray.

He said the ordinance has not been enforced in the city five years after it was passed because the Supreme Court has yet to rule on its constitutionality.

“For the Supreme Court to turn a blind eye and deaf ears on the plight of the suffering communities by failing to issue a prompt ruling is an injustice of massive proportions,” he said in a press briefing here to mark the fifth year of the ordinance’s passing.

“But we also ask President Aquino to listen to the pleas of the affected communities by issuing an executive order banning aerial spray,” Magaway said.

“There’s so much talk without action. If the Supreme Court can’t be swayed by our plight, an executive order from the President will provide relief for affected communities,” he said.

Mindanao business groups, such as the Mindanao Business Council and the Philippine Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA), are lobbying against the ban, saying it would kill the local banana industry, Mindanao’s top export product.

A Department of Health study showed the adverse effects of aerial spray on the health of people in communities living near banana plantations.

Magaway said banana plantations temporarily stopped aerial spraying three years after the passing of the ordinance but resumed again in the barangays of Subasta, Dacudao and Wangan, pending the Supreme Court ruling.

In 2007, PBGEA challenged in the Court of Appeals the decision of a local judge who upheld the legality of the ban. The Court of Appeals based in Cagayan de Oro City issued a temporary restraining order against the ordinance, and later declared the ordinance unconstitutional, prompting pro-ban groups to elevate the case to the Supreme Court.

The environment group Interface for Development Interventions (IDIS) also complained that people directly affected by the aerial spray were excluded in a dialogue organized by the Philippine Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) with different government agencies.

Chinkee Pelino, of IDIS, said the interagency workshop that PCSD organized last year invited representatives from the PBGEA and Croplife, groups strongly lobbying against the ban, while excluding leaders of communities near the plantations.

President Aquino earlier asked the PCSD to consolidate the different positions on aerial spray, after Malacañang was swarmed by petitions from groups calling for an outright ban on the practice because of the hazards it posed to people’s health. The groups said the President should fulfill his campaign promise to give priority attention to the aerial spray issue. Germelina  Lacorte