Demolition of 3 illegal fish pens remain suspended
THE city agriculture office (CAO) has yet to schedule the demolition of three illegal fish pens standing in a 4.7-hectare portion of the river system here despite extended deadlines given the owners.
Two of the illegal structures are located in barangay Salapingao and the other in Talaib-Carael, said Emma Molina, city agriculture officer and head of the “Bantay Ilog”, a task force created to lead the demolition of illegal structures in the rivers.
The task force remains cautious in dealing with the two illegal structures in barangay Salapingao owing to an ongoing ownership dispute between two private parties, Molina said.
Arnold Carcha and Salvador Mejia are both claiming ownership of the illegal fish pen that occupies 2.7 hectares while Leonida Bautista and Alfredo Ambeguia are both claiming ownership over an illegal structure that covers one hectare.
The task force, Molina said, cannot make a move on these structures because of the ongoing court hearing on the ownership claims.
Meanwhile, former Pantal barangay captain Lilia Yasar, the owner of the one hectare illegal fish pen in Talaib-Carael was permitted to put an embankment on a 600-square-meter portion of the one hectare property.
She said Yasar appealed that the 600 square meters be spared from being made part of the river since the water is only knee-deep and the City Assessor’s Office approved Yasar’s request.
Yasar was given until the end of the year to separate the land title of the 600 square-meter portion of the property and to construct an embankment to determine the boundaries from the river.
Meanwhile, Molina has allowed Yasar’s remaining 400 hectares where an illegal fish pen is situated to remain until the end of July this year to enable the latter to complete her harvest.
“She agreed to voluntarily demolish the fish pen after her harvest,” Molina said.
ISLAND TOURS
The CAO will soon arrange the structures owned by marginalized fishermen in the city in preparation for the launching of “Island Tours”.
“We will be marking a navigational lane for the Island Tours,” officials said.
Structures such as skylove, batikwas, surewin, skyblue have been allowed by CAO since these do not pose any hazard to the river. (Hilda M. Austria)
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