[Prepared by IDIS ]
Affected residents and civil society groups waged an intensive and phenomenal nine (9) month campaign to stop the practice of banana plantations of dispensing pesticide through an airplane.
Aerial spraying exposes more people and the environment to the toxic effects of pesticide since the spray drift reaches as far as 3.2 kilometers.
Spearheaded by Mamamayan Ayaw sa Aerial Spraying or MAAS, the campaign successfully educated and involved the local communities and various sectors of society – academe, church, media, professionals and local government – and culminated in the passage of the ordinance last February 9, 2007.
The campaign pitted small communities against big, moneyed corporations and showed in the end that in spite of intensive lobby of vested interest groups, with community assertion of their rights coupled with effective advocacy and lobby strategies, local governments can be made to decide for the public welfare.
The plantation companies under the umbrella of the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association however, in their greed, refuse to accept the will of Davao City and continue to resist the ordinance. The validity and constitutionality of the ordinance is being challenged as PBGEA, Lapanday Development Company (LADECO) and Davao Fruits Corporation (DFC) filed a case against the City Government to stop the implementation of the ordinance.
Members of PBGEA include AMS Group of Companies, Inc, Sumifru Philippines, ANFLO Group of Companies, Alip River Development and Export Corporation, Del Monte Fresh Produce Philippines, La Frutera Incorporated, Lapanday Foods Corporation, Hijo Resources Corporation, Diamond Farms Inc, Dizon Group of Companies, Marsman-Drysdale Group of Companies, Nader and Ebrahim Hassan Philippines, Saranggani Agricultural Company Inc, Nova Vista Management and Development Corporation, Dole Stanfilco and Tristar Group of Banana Companies.
