Groups ask high court to stop Aurora ecozone project

Groups ask high court to stop Aurora ecozone project

“There is a real danger that a single family in Casiguran, Aurora will reap the majority of the benefits of the influx of money from the foreign investments into the special economic zone (SEZ) owing to the way the composition of the Board of Directors of APECO is crafted under RA 10083.”
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – Residents of Aurora and their supporters filed a petition before the Supreme Court, Oct. 12, seeking to stop the Aurora Pacific Ecozone and Free Port (Apeco)

The Apeco, composed of residential, commercial, industrial, eco-tourism, highways, ports and airport projects, was created with the passage of Republic Act No. 9490 entitled “An Act Establishing the Aurora Special Economic Zone in the Province of Aurora, Creating for the Purpose the Aurora Special Economic Zone Authority, Appropriating Funds Therefor and for Other Purposes” (otherwise known as the ASEZA Act of 2007) and its amendatory law, Republic Act No. 10083 entitled “An Act Amending RA 9490 Otherwise Known as the Aurora Special Economic Zone Act of 2007” (or the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Act of 2010).

The petitioners, composed of farmers, fishermen, indigenous peoples from Casiguran, Aurora and organizations such as the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon (AMGL), Panlalawigang Alyansang ng Magbubukid ng Aurora (Pamana) and Justice and Peace Action Group of Aurora (JPAG), Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas and Pambansang Lakas ng Mamamalakaya (Pamalakaya), among others, are asking the Supreme Court to strike down and declare as unconstitutional the two laws. They are all part of the Resist Apeco! Defend Aurora Movement.

“The petitioners who belong to the poor and oppressed sectors of the society – the farmers, fisherfolks and indigenous peoples, are presently in great danger of losing their properties, their livelihood and what little they still have to be able to exist and survive, in clear violation of the rights and protection mandated to them by the Constitution,” the petition read, a copy of which was sent to Bulatlat.com by the Public Interest Law Center (PILC), counsel for the petitioners.

Aurora residents and supporters hold a picket outside the Supreme Court, urging the high court to stop the ecozone project.(Photo courtesy of Resist APECO! Defend Aurora! Movement / bulatlat.com)

The petitioners asked the court to issue a temporary restraining order and/or writ of preliminary injunction ordering the respondents to cease and desist from proceeding with the implementation of the Apeco.

Named respondents are Apeco as represented by its board composed of Roberto K. Mathay, Aurora Gov. Bella Angara-Castillo, Rep. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, Mayor Victorio Briones of Dilasag, Aurora and Harley Rose Alcantara Daquioag, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile for Philippine Congress for enacting Aseza and Apeco laws.



Farmers, fishermen, indigenous peoples affected

The groups said that in implementing the Aseza-Apeco laws, the respondents are depriving the residents of Casiguran, Aurora of their homes, ancestral domain, land and livelihood.

The petitioners asserted that both laws violate the social justice provision on agrarian reform stated in the 1987 Philippine Constitution.

In one of the hearings at the House of Representatives, Undersecretary Gerundio G. Madueño of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) said 525 hectares of land have been distributed to about 425 agrarian reform beneficiaries in the areas covered by the Apeco.

The groups argued that the Apeco’s compulsory coverage of agricultural land amounts to illegal land use conversion. They pointed out that the local government has not reclassified the lands affected by Apeco prior to the enactment of the laws..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/10/14/groups-ask-high-court-to-stop-aurora-ecozone-project/