The Supreme Court on Tuesday dumped a petition to stop San Miguel Corp. from building a new international airport, the “Aerocity Airport Project,” on a 2,500-hectare foreshore area in Bulakan town in Bulacan province.
Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta said the high court denied the petition filed by fishermen and several multi-sector groups on the ground it was “not sufficient in form and substance.”
The groups claimed that the site of the new airport had been classified by the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority as forestland and permanent forestland.
They claimed the project would violate many environmental laws, affect the migratory bird population and increase the risks to climate change and devastate the marine habitat.
They also claimed that the Airport Project Area and the Airport City Area covered forest and permanent forest land that were not alienable and disposable, thus violating Republic Act 4701 or An Act Declaring a Portion of the Foreshore Fronting Manila Bay Along the Province of Bulacan as Bulacan Fishing Reservation and Authorizing the Appropriation of Funds Therefor.
The petitioners also claimed that portions of the areas covering the project were classified as public forest and fishery reserves, and thus inalienable.
The petitioners were represented by Teodoro Bacon and Rodel Alvarez together with Oceana through its Vice President Gloria Estenzo Ramos and Archbishop Roger Martinez of the Archdiocese of San Jose del Monte. They were joined by the Aniban ng mga Mangagawa sa Agrikultura led by its chairman Renato de la Cruz.
Oceana is an international advocacy organization dedicated to protecting the world’s oceans.
The petitioners named as respondents the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu, Environmental Management Bureau Region III Regional Director Wilson Trajeco, Department of Transportation Secretary Art Tugade, San Miguel Aerocity President/CEO Ramon S. Ang and Silvertides President/CEO Hercules V. Galicia.
