TWO Dagupan councilors called on the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to now start removing all the fence enclosures in the foreshore lands of Bonuan,  before permanent structures are built.

This after Mayor Belen Fernandez discovered a number of fences enclosing large portions of foreshore lands in Bonuan Binloc on the site where the proposed One-Bonuan Pavilion will be located.

In a talk with The PUNCH, Councilor Dennis Canto revealed that somewhere in Bonuan Binloc, there are buildings that already sprouted being rented out as rest houses that were constructed some years back obviously without building permits.

He said he was informed that the owners of these buildings located in parts of the foreshore lands of Bonuan, which are considered inalienable and not disposable, are scions of affluent families from Nueva Ecija, Baguio City and La Union.

Councilor Jeslito Seen said the owners of buildings thereafter, including the fenced portions of foreshore lands, are not holding any land title except tax declarations, which are not proofs of land ownership but merely formed as basis for taxation.

The tax declarations were issued by the City Assessor’s Office, but OIC City Assessor Roland Suni denied he issued any tax decs over the area during his term, meaning these were issued by past officials who held that office.

So far, DENR only put up signboards outside the fence enclosures in the foreshore lands of Bonuan Binloc that read “This land is not for sale”.

Meanwhile, both Seen and Canto hailed the plan of Mayor Been Fernandez to build the One-Bonuan Pavilion and the RP-China Friendship Garden that was committed to be built by the Chinese consulate in Laoag in Bonuan Binloc.

Similarly, Gov. Ramon Guico III, vowed to clear all the baywalk areas in Lingayen, Binmaley and San Fabian of illegal structures whose owners have only tax declarations to show possession, which he said are not proofs of ownership of lands.

Guico vowed to go after the assessor who issued the tax declarations that emboldened affluent families to claim ownership of the foreshore land and erected illegal structures.

Second District Rep. Mark Cojuangco filed a resolution in Congress seeking to conduct an inquiry into the squatting of the foreshore lands of Lingayen and Binmaley, and at the military reservation in Binmaley. (Leonardo Micua)

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