Demolition of remaining illegal fish pens begins
TWO large illegal fish pens claimed by its owners to be covered by land titles were the first to be demolished Friday by the Task Force Bantay Ilog upon the the order of Mayor Belen Fernandez.
Maximo Solis, a technical consultant in the office of the City Agriculture Office, said the demolition of the fish pens of Charisse Perez, daughter of former Pantal Barangay Chairman Lilia Yasar, and that of Erwin Dee were effected after serving due notice to them.
The two fish pens are among the 68 structures spared by the city government from demolition last year after their owners made claims that these were covered by land titles or tax declaration certificates.
Solis said Perez, a former Sangguniang Kabataan chairman of Dagupan, raised the net of her fish pen indicating that it has no more fish left in captivity and sent word to the team that her family will voluntarily remove down their structure.
“We will monitor daily if that fish pen will really be voluntarily demolished by the owner,” said Solis, noting that the task force had been given a strict order by the mayor to perform its mandate regardless of who the owner is.
Also demolished by Task Force Bantay Ilog on the same day was the fish pen of Dee which is estimated to measure 300 meters long and 100 meters wide, which was also already emptied of fish stock the day before.
Solis said the demolition proceeded even as the caretaker of Dee tried to argue that his boss had already talked to the mayor who supposedly agreed to spare the fish pens.
“I called up Mayor Fernandez to verify what the caretaker said and found out from her that she has not talked to Dee and never called off her order for the demolition of all the remaining fish pens in the water ,” Solis said,
Dee has five or six more fish cages up for demolition, all of which were covered by supposed land titles. The city government applied the principle in law that rivers, lakes and other water bodies are beyond the commerce of man.
The other illegal fish pens set for demolition are located in the rivers in Calmay, Lucao, Pugaro, Salapingao and Lomboy.
Solis admitted that Task Force Bantay Ilog has not set its timetable for the demolition of all the remaining fish pens but said all the notices were already given to the owners and their representatives.
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