DENR stops reclamation project along Calmay River
THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources has stopped a Pangasinan-based corporation from undertaking a supposed reclamation project in the Calmay River near the new Dawel-Pantal Lucao Road.
Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr. confirmed this report and noted that the company has not only turned the Calmay River narrower but has also the endangered the foundation of the new road which was opened to vehicular traffic on June 16.
Behind the supposed reclamation work is a corporation reportedly headed by one William Chua of Mangaldan, and had allegedly applied for an Environmental Compliance Certificate with the DENR.
The application is still being processed and the ECC has yet to be issued but the company proceeded nonetheless with its reclamation project since several months ago.
City Engineer Virginia Rosario called on the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office to investigate the reclamation project since her office did not issue the company any permit.
The contractor of the project could not present any permit when accosted by the police.
The corporation believes that it owns the area it is filling up by virtue of a Transfer Certificate of Title it holds, but residents of barangay Poblacion Oeste claim fishpens cluttered the site in question until these were demolished when the work on the new Dawel-Pantal-Lucao Road started.
The residents of Poblacion Oeste complained that the filling up operations effectively closed a creek where run-off water used to pass before emptying into the Calmay River, resulting in the flooding the community during the rainy days.
The police, led by Supt. Mariano Luis Verzosa, officer-in-charge of the Dagupan police, seized the pay loader being used by the contractor in filling up the river portion after the project owner failed to present any permit.
Verzosa estimated that some 1,000 square meters have already been reclaimed and more than 800 truckloads of gravel had already been delivered to the site.
Aside from Poblacion Oeste, barangay Lucao is under risk of flooding as a result of the reclamation work.— LM
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