Green groups hit delay in SC ruling on Davao ordinance vs aerial pesticide spraying

A crop duster plane sprays fungicide to protect the 7,000 hectare banana plantation of Tagum Agricultural Development Co. from destructive leaf virus in Tagum in Davao del Norte province, located in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao on April 22, 2008. AFP FILE PHOTO

DAVAO CITY, Philippines–Further delay in the Supreme Court’s ruling over a city ordinance banning aerial spraying in banana plantations exposes more children to pesticide drifts, particularly since schools opened in June, environment groups warned.

“On top of the usual lack of classrooms and teachers, school children near banana plantations endure an added risk to their health by inhaling pesticide drifts as classes start,” said Dagohoy Magaway, president of the group Mamamayan Ayaw sa Aerial Spraying (Maas).

He said a meeting with affected communities in February revealed that parents were increasingly worried about pesticide drifts, as spray planes resumed aerial spraying in the city’s agricultural districts of Wangan and Dacudao.

In 2007, the City Council passed an ordinance banning aerial spray among banana plantations, but a strong lobby from banana growers and exporters belonging to the Philippine Banana Growers and Exporters Association put its implementation on hold. Business groups questioned the constitutionality of the ordinance before the Court of Appeals, which overturned a lower court decision in favor of PBGEA, and prompted the group Maas to elevate the question to the Supreme Court.

But until now, the Supreme Court has yet to issue its final ruling.

Magaway said the absence of a final ruling from the Supreme Court has emboldened plantations to resume the dangerous practice of aerial spraying in the communities.

“We call on the High Court to issue a final ruling,” he said. “Our children and families have long been inhaling the toxic pesticide drift since the ’70s. Please do not wait until we are all dead, and our watersheds ruined beyond recovery,” Magaway said.

He said grandmothers told him their “grandchildren reported having felt pesticide drifts from a passing spray plane while singing the national anthem during the morning flag ceremonies.”

“They (the grandparents) spoke at the gathering, sharing their concerns about the pesticide drift,” Dagohoy said.

“But at the same time, they were concerned about their relatives working in the banana plantations; they were afraid the banana companies will fire them if they talk, so they refused to come out in the open,” he added.