Dad scores aerial ban lobbyists for dirty tricks

‘Rotten banana’ stunt

doomed aerial spray ban

By ROGER M. BALANZA

            A Davao City councilor yesterday scored local environmentalist groups for publicly shaming Court of Appeals justices following a CA decision that granted a preliminary injunction against a Davao City ordinance banning aerial spraying in banana plantations.

            Councilor Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling, a lawyer, said the insulting act of rewarding the justices with “rotten bananas” for the decision could impact on the case with the environmentalists on the losing end.

            “Dirty tactics by advocates of the ban on aerial spraying in banana plantations could earn media mileage but may be fatal to the case pending with the Court of Appeals to determine the legality of the Davao City ordinance imposing an outright ban,” said Cabling, who as chair of the environment committee batted for a five-year phase out on aerial spraying.

            Non-government organizations Interface Development Interventions (IDIS) and the Mamamayang Ayaw sa Aerial Spraying (MAAS) last week may have sealed the doom of the ordinance that aims to protect Davao City residents from fungicide spray by aerial application.

In what is seen as a repeat of their earlier antics at the Davao City Council, which approved the ordinance last year, IDIS and MAAS officers delivered rotten bananas to the four CA Justices in Cagayan de Oro City who penned a decision granting the preliminary injunction against the ordinance. The CA issued the injunction after granting a 60-day temporary restraining order in November last year.

The Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters (PBGEA) in the Davao Region, whose main produce is Cavendish bananas for export, had contested the ordinance affirmed by a Davao City regional trial court and lodged an appeal with the CA.

PBGEA claims the ban could cripple the region’s major employer and dollar earner if forced to convert to the more expensive method of ground spraying. MAAS and IDIS, the main lobbyist for the ordinance, alleged aerial spray threatened public health despite government findings no one died from exposure to the practice used for more than 40 years in banana plantations.

Last year while the Davao City Council was deliberating on the ordinance, IDIS and MAAS scored councilors for slow action and awarded them with the kalabasa (squash), a local symbol for dumbness.