Punchline

By June 20, 2016Opinion, Punchline

Who’s protecting the illegal fish pens?

EFG

By Ermin Garcia Jr.

 

FROM the looks of it, the Fernandez administration in Dagupan will continue to be plagued with rampant violation of the ordinance banning fish pens. Why?

For the past three years, after all the blatant and repeated violations by the same illegal fish pen owners, City Agriculturist Emma Molina has not charged or fined a single violator for at least polluting the rivers, never mind the city’s fishery ordinance. Worse, not a single owner of the dismantled fish pens has been made to reimburse the city government for its expenses in demolishing their abandoned pens, after pledging to voluntarily dismantle these in return for the grace period extended them.

This is the kind of issue that the minority members in the city council should look into, forget about the Comprehensive Land Use Plan whose outcome can only be evaluated once it is implemented. In contrast, the effect of the implementation of the amended fisheries ordinance is already here for everyone to see, and from the looks it, corruption has made the ordinance inutile. (Paging the authors of the ordinance, too).

The activities of the City Agriculture Office (CAO) should be investigated by the councilors posthaste or consider themselves useless public servants! The CAO has become the protector of unscrupulous businessmen who pollute the city’s rivers with impunity! (I texted Ms. Molina asking for answers to our questions but she didn’t reply till presstime).

The candid admission of Max Solis, head of the Task Force Bantay Ilog, that his team is helpless against the pen operators who defy them and continue to re-stock the illegal pens with fingerlings is telling enough. They seem to know somehow that they will still be allowed to harvest again, and again.

This is one classic example of President-elect Rody Duterte when he complained that compliance with the law in this country is optional!

So unless and until the city government finally strictly enforces the law, its integrity and credibility will begin to erode in no time.

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WHO WILL UPHOLD THE LAW? There is a national law that provides that any piece of private land that has become part of a river becomes part of government domain. This has been repeatedly pointed out by the DENR.

But why is the city’s legal office holding back in enforcing the ordinance on the oversized fish pens of three owners who arrogantly claim that the law and the city’s ordinance cannot be imposed on them. And surprisingly, the city legal office seems willing and ready to accept that premise!

Any legal practitioner worth his/her salt is always ready to challenge anyone who chooses to interpret the laws differently but this doesn’t seem to be the case with the city’s legal office. Curiously, why is City Legal Officer George Mejia refusing to take the moral high ground by testing the validity of the national law by ordering the demolition of the illegal fish pens backed by the ordinance?

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MISPLACED PROTEST. There’s a press release I received that’s worrisome – “Youth decry of Oplan Rody, says its unjust and impracticable” referring essentially the enforcement of the curfew on minors. It’s very relevant to the views expressed by Guv Spines in his Independence Day speech, and yes, President-elect Duterte.

The Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan or SPARK led by UP-Diliman students argued that Oplan Rody and other local councils “failed to account major societal changes in the country today making hundreds of thousands of enrolled, working and even out-of-school youth automatic prey to the absolutist and unrealistic decrees.”

The group is calling for the immediate end to “Oplan Rody” in many cities “and take into consideration the realities of present-day conditions, lay down the mechanisms that will safeguard the youth from human rights abuses possibly by law enforcement units and more importantly address the societal roots of petty crime.

They cite the problems of K to12, the climate change, working students, etc. as reasons to forego with the curfew as being enforced today.

Obviously, the group has not seen a copy of the ordinances and is reacting mainly to news reports of minors and vagrants loitering outside their homes being hauled to police precincts and branding these as bordering on human rights violations.

The curfew is in fact a mechanism that helps parents keep their kids of minor age in check. Does the group honestly think it is doing the youth a service by protesting the curfew?

What’s wrong with this generation?

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MOTIVES. In case you’ve not noticed, there are more reports today of known drug pushers being killed by vigilantes or in the act of resisting arrest.

There are two common reactions to these. One is: The police are finally getting their acts together, acting as protectors of the community. The other is an act of self preservation. The corrupt among the police are acting quickly to protect their identities as secret protectors and pushers before the drug lords/pushers tag them to be one of them.

From where I sit, I don’t really care how the drug lords and pushers are being disposed of today. The corrupt among the police and political leaders will be exposed sooner or later.

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WHA’ HAPPENED? Here’s a heads up to Balik-Dagupan Comelec officer Atty. Marino Salas. What ever happened to the election protest filed against five candidates for councilors in Dagupan City?

The 13-page complaint filed by Florence Claveria of Barangay Lasip Chico charged incumbent Councilors Redford Christian Erfe Mejia and Guillermo Vallejos, Luis Samson Jr., Nicanor Aquino and Teddy Villamil for violation of the election for soliciting votes in bingo bonanza games held in different places in Dagupan on different dates.

The complaint was filed April 26 before the office of then Acting City Election Officer Nathaniel Saiden.

Then Acting-Provincial Election Supervisor Joel Gines confirmed on May 4 that the complaint was already forwarded to the Comelec law department in Manila.

In her affidavit, Claveria claimed that she videotaped the proceedings of the supposed bingo bonanza which was among the evidence she attached to support her complaint that the five violated election laws.

Under the Omnibus Election Code, the holding of bingo as well as lotteries, cockfights, boxing bouts, the entertainment or cinematographic, theatrical or other performances are prohibited from the start of the election period up to and including election day.

If this is not processed as it should, then we cannot hope to see more civic-minded citizens who wants to see our laws upheld in every way.

Mr. Salas should update, and not forget, that a valid complaint was filed and a resolution is needed.

(For your comments and reactions, please email to: punch.sunday@gmail.com)

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