Group for aerial spray ban showers justices with flowers

Feb. 21, 2008

Wearing red shirts, members of the Mamayan Ayaw sa Aerial Spraying (Maas) delivered more than a hundred flowers to associate justices of the Court of Appeals Branch 22 in Cagayan de Oro City on Valentines Day.

The flowers, Maas said, symbolized their appeal for the associate justices to show their love, by giving more importance to the health of the people and the environment rather to the corporate interest of Philippine Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) members.

Maas hoped the CA justices would to show “love for people” during one of the most romantic days of the year.

Maas member Cecilia Moran, a resident of Barangay Dacudao, said they still want to give the justices a chance to prove that they their hearts still belong to for poor people like her, who are calling for a ban on aerial spraying in banana plantations. “The government is our only option, there is no one else,” lamented Moran.

She said she is trying not to despair in this battle. “We are still hoping that we will still touch the hearts of the justices,” she said.

Earlier, the group delivered rotten Cavendish bananas after CA granted the petition of the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) to issue a writ of preliminary injunction on the ordinance banning aerial spraying.

Government lawyers and the community members who intervened in the case between PBGEA and the city government over the ordinance, filed separate motions for reconsideration.

The decision of the CA to issue a preliminary injunction has been met with a series of protests and mass actions from groups pushing for a ban on aerial spraying. People behind Maas said they will continue to conduct public actions until the justices will hear their appeal. (PR)

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