Illegal fish pen owners are back

By Ermin Garcia Jr.

I HAVE good news and bad news for Dagupan Mayor Belen Fernandez for the nth time.

First the good news. Dagupeños are clearly very happy with her management style. It’s been reaping unprecedented results. The waves and smiles she gets wherever she goes already tell the story of a happy community.

Now the bad news. Mr. Alfredo Dawana, a well-respected fish farmer of the old, is up in arms over the continuing pollution of the city’s rivers. At a time when Mayor Belen appears pleased with the way the river clean-up is proceeding, as obviously reported to her by her City Agriculturist Emma Molina, nothing could be worse than being taken for a ride. Or is the mayor aware but is not inclined to doing anything about it, the impression that Ms Molina wants to give?

Before the issue explodes in her face, I strongly suggest she makes a surprise on-the-spot inspection of fish cages to see how many are actually being used for bangus culture, and to count how many illegal fish pens are still being operated, where and by whom.

If Mr. Dawana’s observations and allegations are validated to be true by our Bureau of Fisheries, Mayor Belen should waste no time in sacking Ms. Molina.

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TRACK RECORD. Mr. Dawana’s revelations are most worrisome considering the track record of Ms. Molina.

I, too, already complained about her participation in the overnight proliferation of illegal fish pens as city agriculturist during the Lim administration running up to the 2013 elections.

In fact, I did more than just complained. I filed a formal complaint before the sangguniang panlungsod and asked that she be investigated “in aid of legislation.” I was aghast when she was given a clean bill of health after a day’s questioning by the council committee shortly after the 2013 election.

Why the city council found nothing irregular about her activities then was simply beyond me or anyone who knew that millions changed hands over the proliferation of the illegal fish pens.

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NO CHARGES I recall hearing a pissed Mayor Belen threatening to throw the books at the illegal fish pen owners who refused to heed her call to remove the fish pens as she began warming her seat at the city hall. She slammed the unscrupulous illegal fish pen owners who were polluting the city’s rivers like nobody’s business. Her threats flew like straight arrows that knew their targets.

But lo and behold, instead of collaring the illegal pen owners, there was Ms. Molina who took the cudgels for them, transmitting their pleas – and won – to have the demolition of their pens suspended.

She even made Mayor Belen believe that the owners will voluntarily demolish their illegal pens at no costs to the city government if they would only be allowed to recoup their “last “ investment. Did they “voluntarily” demolish their pens after pocketing their illegal profits? Not on your life. With the exception of a handful, Ms. Molina’s friends quickly abandoned and left it to Mayor Belen to clean up after them. Did she even remotely recommend to Mayor Belen that the pen owners who reneged on their promises be charged in court or be made to pay penalties for violating the city’s fishery code at anytime? Guess again!

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HOODWINKED. As we worked on this issue, The PUNCH received several pictures – proofs of illegal fish pens still operating despite the mayor’s uncompromising ban. One such illegal fish pen is allegedly owned by a “Mr. Paragas.” According to Mr. Dawana, one can still see the illegal fish pens in Salapingao, Talaeb, Tukok and Talaeb. There are more of these if only Mayor Belen would care to learn how she’s been hoodwinked into believing everything was under control “as the mayor ordered.”

After the big bonanza enjoyed by unscrupulous businessmen from their illegal fish pen operations, now comes another anomalous operation conveniently disguised as legitimate fish cage operations. As things stand, the bangus inside the fish cage owned by a “Mr. Zabala” were recently seen floating uselessly. Is a fish kill in the offing?

Is it possible that the same unscrupulous owners of illegal fish pens who got away with murder under the Lim administration, are back with a vengeance with Ms. Molina leading the charge? For someone who unabashedly demonstrates to all that she is one of the mayor’s fair-haired confidantes, should I be surprised why we are seeing the “return of the comeback” of the Lim administration’s racket?

It’s time Mayor Belen finds out if Ms. Molina is, indeed, a dedicated agriculturist or a scheming entrepreneur from outside Dagupan?

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SUDDENLY A NUISANCE. I just read the initial report that Rolando Rea, the remaining oppositor to the golf course project using alleged the black sand mining as his handle, had written to President Aquino for intervention.

I found it amusing that he actually expected the President to act on issues that only our courts can decide on. It is regrettable that by doing so, he only succeeded in exposing himself as a nuisance.

If only he had been prudent enough to seek legal advice on where due process lies, his efforts would have been credible. Writing that presumptuous and unstudied letter, I’m afraid only forced him to a wall with no other recourse but to crawl out.

It could have been a good fight for him but all that is now under the bridge, not even anything beyond the wall he cries about . Tsk-tsk.

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