VOL. 9 ISSUE 171 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21 - 22, 2016 FACE OF GOVERNANCE. Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio appears to be in high spirits during a meeting with City Information Officer Jefry Tupas (right) and Chief of Staff Raul Nadela Jr. Duterte was pushing for the inclusion of Davao City in the areas to be covered by the proposed emergency powers for the President to ease the traffic congestion in the city. Lean Daval Jr.
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SC ASKED TO CHANGE AERIAL SPRAY RULING City files motion for reconsideration EDGEDAVAO Sports By FUNNY PEARL A. GAJUNERA
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HE Davao City government on Tuesday, Oct. 18, filed a motion for reconsideration with the Supreme Court’s on its en banc decision to overturn the City Council’s anti-aerial spraying ordinance, 15 days after the City Legal Office received the High Court’s decision. A recent report submitted by lawyer Enrique J. A. Bonocan of the City Legal Office pointed out that Article 9 of the Watershed Code of Davao City states that aerial spraying is only prohibited “in those [areas] identified by the ordi-
nance as environmentally critical areas.” Furthermore, Article 9 of the same ordinance or the section on “Prohibited Acts” declares: “To ensure the health and sustainability of the Watershed Areas, the following shall be prohibited acts in the Environmentally Critical Areas.” These identified environmentally critical areas, according to the ordinance, include agro-forestry/agricultural, non-tillage areas. The ordinance likewise stated that buffer zones must
be observed within 30 or 40 meters away from the declared environmentally-critical areas. “Buffer zones of 30 meters or 40 meters, as the case may be, are still required under the Watershed Code pursuant to Article 10 thereof. Violation of any of the acts prohibited therein is penalized with, inter alia, imprisonment, under Article 19 of the same,” Bonocan’s report reads. Meanwhile, Bonocan raised the possibility of a Supreme Court decision that would declare the City Council’s ordinance on aerial spray-
ing as “ultra vires” or beyond one’s legal power or authority. He explained that since the High Tribunal ruled the City Council had no authority to ban aerial spraying in the area because the power to do so solely belongs to the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Fertilizer and Pesticides Authority (FPA), which is under the Office of the President, President Duterte can issue an Executive Order banning the agriculture practice. The anti-aerial spraying ordinance was crafted and
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