Fish pens with land titles stymie task force
FOUR oversized illegal fish pens in various rivers of Dagupan City constructed on parts of rivers allegedly covered by land titles continue to delay the work of the Task Force Bantay Ilog which to date has already demolished the last of 68 illegal fish pens.
At the same time, Maximo Solis, head of Task Force Bantay Ilog, admitted that there are still 100 illegal fish pens that need to be dismantled.
Meanwhile, Solis said his men have been advised by City Agriculturist Emma Molina not to touch all the remaining fish pens because the areas are allegedly either covered by land titles or the subject of a court litigation.
Solis said the remaining four illegal fish pens are: One (1) owned and managed by the heirs by the late Arnold Carcha located at the boundary of Salapingao and Pugaro, two (2) owned by former Pantal Barangay Captain Lilia Yasar in Sitio Talaib, Carael, and one (1) owned by Alfredo Ambegua.
Yasar, Ambegua and the heirs of Carcha reportedly claim they are holders of tax declarations and continue to pay their taxes, Solis said.
He added that in addition to the three cases, there are also land owners who claim they are covered by torrens titles, whose fish pens were originally fish ponds that were eroded and have since become part of Calmay River.
He said he will make an inventory of these new cases.
Solis said in this particular case, they leave this matter to be settled among the City Agriculturist, the City Legal Office and the City Assessors Office since he and his men are not in the position to interpret the provisions of the law.
He also said there are fish cages that violate the specified 5-meters by 5-meters maximum size in the ordinance and therefore have to be resized. If these are not resized after their harvest, these will be demolished as well.
All these have already been marked by the task force for re-sizing
“Perhaps, we can complete the demolition during the first few weeks of Mayor Belen Fernandez’s second term in office,” Solis said. (Leonardo Micua)
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