SC: No TRO vs. APECO for now

The two laws creating and expanding the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority (APECO) will be implemented despite a petition contesting their legality.

At a press briefing Tuesday, Supreme Court Public Information Office chief Theodore Te said the high court, during the day's en banc session, did not issue the temporary restraining order sought by the petitioner, Pinag-isang Lakas ng Mga Samahan ng Casiguran, Aurora (PIGLASCA).

PIGLASCA is composed of farm, fisherfolk, and indigenous groups, residing in Casiguran, within APECO.

"The application for issuance of a TRO was not acted on [and instead], the petition was consolidated with an earlier petition,” Te told reporters.

Te was referring to an earlier petition filed by Rafael Mariano that was also against the APECO. Filed in October 2011, the petition remains pending with the high court.

In the latest petition filed Monday, PIGLASCA said the passage of the two laws—Republic Act 9490 or the Aurora Special Economic Zone Authority Law (ASEZA Law) and the law that amended it, RA 10083 (APECO Law)—was “irregular, excessive, or unconscionable, or grossly disadvantageous to the public which amount to grave abuse of discretion of Congress or the carrying out of legislative power in a manner that is in excess of its jurisdiction."

The petitioners also said the two laws violated the Constitutional provisions that protect, recognize, and give priority to the rights of landless farmers and "subsistence fishers" or those which petitioners said were "real and actual" fishermen who depend on fishing for subsistence.

The laws were authored by former Sen. Eduardo Engara and his son, incumbent Sen. Juan Eduardo Angara, a former Aurora representative. The two have repeatedly defended APECO.

Te said the high tribunal required the respondents in the case—APECO, the Senate as represented by Senate President Franklin Drilon, and the House of Representatives as represented by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte—to comment on PIGLASCA's petition. — Mark Merueñas/KBK, GMA News