THE fish pen owned by former Pantal Barangay Chairman Lilia Yasar located in the middle of the Calmay River could be the first to go among the 59 fish pens temporarily spared from the demolition of illegal structures as part of the Dagupan government’s drive to clear and clean the city’s waters.

A cease and desist order (CDO) was issued by the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) last November 15 against Yasar’s fish pen which was declared as a supposed fishery and aquaculture project but which has no Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC).

The CDO, signed by EMB Regional Director Joel Salvador, was addressed to Yasar,  the proponent of the supposed fishery project with an area of 10,529 square meters siutated in the river that separates Barangay Carael and Calmay in Dagupan City for which she was applying for an ECC.

The project is actually a fish pen where milkfish and other fish species are raised.

Yasar recently lost in her reelection bid as barangay chairman of Pantal.

In Salvador’s letter, copy furnished the office of Mayor Belen Fernandez, he cited several requirements imposed by the EMB on Yasar to justify her continued operation of the fish pen but she failed to submit these prompting the EMB to issue the CDO.

She was asked among others to submit a certification from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) that her project  is within the identified Fishery and Aquaculture Zone; and a certification from the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) that the project site has not become part of the river or water body.

Yasar’s structure has been determined to be not just an environmental hazard but also an obstruction to the navigational lane.

TAX DECLARATION

Initial investigation by the city administration show that Yasar holds a tax declaration on the area issued by the City Assessor’s Office, but no land title.

When City Assessor Alan Dale Zarate was made to explain why he issued such a tax declaration to Yasar on the simple claim that she owned the area, he said that if an applicant submits all the requirements, it is ministerial on his part to issue the tax declaration which does replace a land title.

Roland Suni, a geodetic engineer and technical consultant of Fernandez, has been tasked to verify if the other claimants of ownerships of parts of the river and beachfronts are using tax declarations issued by Zarate during the Lim admininstration.

In the case of Yasar (and possible other claimants of similar nature, she used her tax declaration as a license to occupy and operate a fish pen in the middle of Calmay River.

Task Force Bantay Ilog action officer Ronnie Cayabyab said his group is ready to immediately demolish all the remaining illegal fish pens that were given reprieve if ordered by the mayor.

Earlier, CENRO Officer Raymundo Gayo has cleared the way for the city government to demolish the remaining fish pens in the rivers even if these are covered by tax declarations and land titles based on the law that if a property is eroded into the river, it automatically becomes part of the public domain.

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