ANGELES CITY – The existence of the Aurora Pacific Economic and Freeport Zone (Apeco) hangs in the balance as Anakpawis party list Rep. Rafael Mariano said yesterday he is set to file a bill repealing Republic Act No. 10083 or the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Act of 2010.
Mariano said he will file his bill on Tuesday next week, saying it would focus on his contention that RA 10083 or Apeco Law “violated numerous Constitutional provisions and other laws.”
“It violated the 1987 Constitutional provisions on agrarian reform, as well as Republic Act No. 6657, as amended otherwise known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988.”
Mariano also asserted that the Apeco Law “violated fishermen’s rights enshrined in the 1987 Philippine Constitution”, the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998, and the rights of indigenous peoples to their ancestral lands.
He noted that under the Apeco Law, the Aurora Ecozone can borrow funds from foreign sources and incur indebtedness without need of the concurrence of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
“This provision is contrary to Section 21, Article XII of the 1987 Philippine Constitution,” he noted. He said that the Apeco Law also authorizes foreign investors under the guise of private enterprises to operate public utilities in flagrant contravention of Section 11, Article XII of the Constitution.
Mariano also cited violations of stewardship agreements covering public lands between government and beneficiary by putting more restrictions that remove security of tenure over such areas under the government’s social forestry program.
“Finally, the right to due process of affected sectors guaranteed under the 1987 Philippine Constitution was also violated as the people of Casiguran, Aurora were not consulted before the passage of the laws for the establishment of the Aurora Ecozone,” Mariano added.
He said “no public hearing at the House of Representatives was conducted in which the affected sectors were supposed to be invited to air their side.”
“Had there been public hearings, the proponents of the Aurora ecozone would have at once known that they would be unjustly dispossessing agrarian reform beneficiaries…the railroading of the law creating the Aurora ecozone at the House of Representatives and the Senate was another violation of their right to due process,” Mariano also said.
“The compulsory coverage of affected sectors’ properties constitute taking without due process of law and without payment of just compensation,” Mariano added.
In October last year, the fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya), Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon (AMGL), Resist Apeco, Defend Aurora Movement and the Panlalawigang Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid ng Aurora filed a 110-page petition before the Supreme Court questioning the constitutionality of laws that created the Apeco.
