ANGELES CITY – Leaders of the militant Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) and Anakpawis party list has accused the Supreme Court of failing to diffuse “a social volcano” by junking their motion seeking clarification on its ruling on the clean up of the Manila Bay.
“Supreme Court spokesperson Atty. Midas Marquez advised us to file a motion for clarification before the high court instead of asking the 15 justices to issue a legal opinion if the reclamation and conversion of Manila Bay foreshore areas is consonant with the SC ruling on Manila Bay,” Pamalakaya vice chairman Fernando Hicap said yesterday.
“We were just asking for clarification, but the court failed to deliver the needed clarification on Manila Bay ruling,” Hicap lamented. The motion was filed last Sept. 1.
Hicap said “We are being treated to a roller coaster ride. The issues that we raised are matters of life and death to the fisher people of Manila Bay. But the court missed the point and missed the opportunity to address a social volcano in the making.”
Hicap said denial of motion “is tantamount to denial of truth and justice” as he appealed to the Supreme Court justices to reconsider their decision on the clarificatory petition.
“Instead of taking our motion as judicial opportunity to clarify matters on Supreme Court decision on Manila Bay rehabilitation, the high tribunal grossly ignored, and therefore grossly committed a major political and moral blunder,” he said.
“It is a judicial massacre of our collective and constitutional right to seek truth and justice before the high tribunal.
We hope Chief Justice Renato Corona and the 14 other justices would reconsider the decision and start new round of legal debate on the Manila Bay clean up ruling that chiefly targets the livelihoods of marginalized fisherfolk and the marine environment in favor of big reclamation projects and in favor of big business interests,” Hicap added.
The Supreme Court denied for lack of merit the manifestation with motion for clarification filed by lawyer Jobert Ilarde Pahilga in behalf of Pamalakaya and Anakpawis party list represented by Hicap, France and Pamalakaya-Southern Tagalog chairperson Pedro Gonzales and Anakpawis secretary general Cherry Clemente.
Pahilga is the counsel for intervenors Sentro Para Sa Tunay Na Repormang Agraryo (SENTRA) and Farmers Advocacy and Development Center in the case Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), et al. vs. concerned residents of Manila Bay.
In the petition, Pamalakaya and Anakpawis party list asked the Supreme Court to clarify whether the demolition of fisherfolk homes and livelihoods along Manila Bay is part of the clean up, and that the reclamation of large areas of foreshore lands to give way to big buildings, commercial spaces and eco-tourism projects are allowed under the high tribunal’s initial decision ordering the Manila Bay clean up.
The groups said in their petition that almost 20,000 hectares of Manila Bay have already been reclaimed over the last 30 to 40 years to give way to special economic zone projects in Bataan and Cavite, as well as to the commercial spaces occupied by the Manila Film Center, the GSIS Building in Pasay City, the Cultural Center of the Philippines and Folk Arts Theater in Manila, and the SM Mall of Asia and other commercial companies in Pasay City and Parañaque City.
The petition noted that from 1992 to 1995 alone, some 3,500 small fisherfolk and their families in the Pasay reclamation area and another 3,000 coastal and urban poor families along the coastal shores of Parañaque were already evicted by the government of former Pres. Ramos.
It noted that thousands more are to be dislocated once the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) implements more reclamation and other projects at the Manila Bay, including the reclamation of 5,000 hectares of coastal waters in Cavite City to expand Sangley port which would displaced 26,000 fisherfolk and urban poor families in the coastal towns of Bacoor, Kawit, Binakayan, Noveleta and Cavite City.
The militant groups noted that while the Supreme Court wants Manila Bay cleaned, “extreme violations are occurring in the area.”
“In Pier 18, a purported recycling company is presently operating. Pier 18 likewise is being used as a staging area for the transfer and hauling of tons of waste to some dumpsite further down Manila Bay or the Navotas landfill in Obando, Bulacan which pollutes even more the waters of Manila Bay. But no government agency has looked into the said activities,” Hicap said.
