[ Malaya.com.ph ] October 28, 2009
THE Supreme Court yesterday ruled that the Metro Manila Development Authority has the authority to dismantle illegal structures that contribute to the pollution of Manila Bay but it cannot implement summary eviction of informal settlers without due notice.
The Court en banc said that while MMDA’s zeal in improving Manila’s drainage system and water bodies is laudable, it should comply with the requirements of Republic Act 7279 or the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992, and accord due process to thousands of families that will be displaced in order to rehabilitate Manila Bay.
The SC ruling resolved the separate motions filed by the Samahang Mandaragat Kinabukasan Bagong Pag-asa Inc. and Kalipunan ng Mangingisda ng Tambo Inc. (Samahan) and Pambansang Lakas ng mga Mamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) which were worried that the SC’s Dec. 18, 2008 decision for the Manila Bay cleanup would result in their eviction without due notice.
The SC said the December 2008 decision covers only summary eviction and demolition of structures and encroachments that were built in violation of Article 51 of Presidential Decree No. 1067 (Water Code); and those considered as public nuisances and danger areas as defined under the RA 7279, popularly known as the Lina Law.
Summary eviction applies to professional squatters and those whose houses were built after the effectivity of RA 7279, and whose structures occupy esteros, railroad tracks, garbage dumps, riverbanks, shorelines, waterways, sidewalks, roads, parks, and playgrounds, but they are still entitled to an eviction notice.
In its December 2008 decision, the SC directed the MMDA, local government units and other concerned government agencies to jointly clean up Manila Bay and make it fit for swimming, skin-diving and other forms of recreation. The court specifically ordered the demolition of illegal shanties along the Pasig-Marikina-San Juan rivers, the Parañaque-Zapote, Las Piñas rivers, the Navotas-Malabon-Tullahan-Tenejeros rivers, and connecting waterways in Metro Manila. – Evangeline C. de Vera
