THE final deadline has lapsed and the remaining fish pens and other illegal structures in the rivers of Dagupan City have been ordered for demolition, whether or not the pens have been emptied.

Mayor Belen Fernandez, who issued the order to the city agriculture office (CAO) to carry out and finish the dismantling operation, noted that it’s been more than a week after the extended April 30 deadline and there has been no dismantling of the pens by the owners as promised the city government.

“We have been patient with them (fish pen owners) and have given them sufficient time to harvest the contents of their structures and it is time to remove those especially that we are to start dredging the rivers,” she intoned.

She did not indicate if charges will be filed against the fish pen owners who failed to dismantle their pens.

The CAO, together with Task Force Bantay Ilog and the assistance of the Dagupan PNP and maritime officers, have started the demolition of the 41 remaining illegal structures last May 2.

The first deadline for the dismantling and demolition was end of February.

The fish pen owners pleaded for more time to enable them to complete their harvest.

However, during the grace period extended, a number of the fish pen owners were reportedly seen releasing fingerlings inside their respective pens in violation of their pledge to the mayor.

City agriculturist Emma Molina stressed that the city government has reminded the owners on the deadline for their voluntary dismantling of the pens on April 30.

“They cannot blame us now if they incur losses because Mayor Fernandez has already extended the deadline many times”, Molina said.

The remaining fish pens and cages are located mostly in Barangays Calmay, Carael, Tokok Talaeb Lucao, Salapingao and Pugaro were claimed by the owners as private properties with titles.

The claims were set aside after the city assessor’s office has determined that some of the titles submitted by the owners do not match with the location of their structures.

At the same time, the city government has invoked the law which states private properties that reverted back to the river automatically becomes part of the public domain.

DREDGING

The dredging of the city’s rivers will start on Thursday using three dredging machines, one of which is a Water Master III from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Engr. Virgina Rosario, city engineering officer, said the three dredging machines will remove the 250, 000 cubic meters of silt from the river system of the city starting at barangay Calmay for more than a year.

“The machines are expected to remove six meters silt and these silts will be dumped in private properties to whom the city have made an agreement,” Rosario said.— LVM /Dada Austria

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