Fisherfolk group asks court to stop Navotas City mussel farms demolition

MANILA, Philippines – A fisherfolk group on Friday, June 14, asked the Navotas Regional Trial Court to stop what they called the “unlawful” demolition of over six kilometers of mussel farms in Navotas City.

Pamalakaya-Navotas filed a petition for prohibition and mandamus (with an application for the issuance of a temporary restraining order and status quo ante order and/or writ of preliminary injunction) before the regional trial court against Navotas City Mayor John Rey Tiangco, Vice Mayor Tito Sanchez, acting city agriculturist Cheney Ville Gabriel, and Roberto Pascual of the City Business Permits and Licensing Office.

“We urgently call for a halt of these unlawful demolitions in light of these injustices. The LGU must adhere to proper procedures and protect the livelihoods that have sustained Navotas for generations, This is a fight for justice and the preservation of a community’s way of life,” Pamalakaya-Navotas said in their petition.

“Moreover, we assert that what the fisherfolk truly need is a genuine rehabilitation that restores the former vitality of Manila Bay, not projects the destroy livelihoods of thousands and harm the environment,” they added.

The group also asked the court to compel the Navotas government to restore the demolished farms to their original condition.

The petitioners said that they are seeking the writ of prohibition and mandamus “on the ground that the respondents committed grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction” when the city government, through its agriculture office, sent out the notices on the mussels farm demolition on March 31 and May 9, 2023, and on February 24, 2024.

The Navotas City government anchored these actions on the 2008 Supreme Court mandamus order “to clean up, and rehabilitate, and preserve Manila Bay.”

“Despite fishers’ willingness to comply with regulations, the LGU continues to deny renewal permits and wrongly categorize these productive fishing enterprises as unlawful,” the petitioners said.

“The LGU’s misapplication of the Supreme Court’s 2008 Continuing Mandamus to justify these demolitions is a gross distortion. The Mandamus was never intended to dismantle fish farms that