Gone by 1st week of August
ILLEGAL FISH PENS, CAGES
THE City Agriculture Office has finally identified the remaining twenty illegal fish pens and cages that will be dismantled by Task Force Bantay Ilog by the first week of August.
According to Maximo Solis, the head of TF Bantay Ilog, most of the illegal fish pens to be demolished are in the island barangay of Pugaro.
So far, the city has dismantled 111 illegal fish pens, with total size of 6.97 hectares, from January to July 22, 2016.
City Agriculturist Emma Molina told The PUNCH that the city government can finally demolish the fish pens whom owners earlier claimed to be located in titled lands but washed away by the river. Upon verification, the areas could not be claimed as titled, and therefore are now subject to immediate demolition.
Solis said, notices have been issued to the owners of the illegal fish pens to be demolished. “Ang unang-unang ginagawa ay ina-advise siya na idi-dismantle na namin para mag-harvest na. Tatanggap siya ng notice tapos pipintahan namin ‘yung structures meaning ready for demolition na,” he explained.
He said the adopted policy is to allow the owners to harvest whatever they can before the date of the demolition.
Since there are six island barangays in the city, Solis admitted that his team has difficulty inmonitoring the existence of illegal fish pens and oversized fish cages that are constructed surreptitiously after these are demolished.
“’Di mawawala-wala ang mga ‘yan kasi ‘yan ang number one source of income o livelihood nila kumbaga. Kaya, ilalaban nila ng patayan ‘yan,” he said. (Serene Susara)
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