MBTF: Molina, TF Bantay Ilog to stay
FOOFADCI REBUKED
TO those demanding a revamp in the City Agriculture Office, this is what Mayor Belen T. Fernandez has to say – No way!
This was as blunt as she could make it in reaction to the campaign of officers of the Fishpond Owners Operators and Fishermen’s Association of Dagupan City, Inc. seeking the ouster of City Agriculturist Emma Molina as agriculture czar of the city.
The mayor told newsmen FOOFADCI president Alfedo Dawana and his members invited her one time and asked her to remove Molina as city agriculturist whom they accused as an accomplice of the past city administration in the proliferation of illegal fish pens in he the city’s rivers in the past.
“I don’t care. What is past is past. I will not be dictated upon who to remove from his or her position in the city government,” Fernandez said, speaking to newsmen who accompanied her on an inspection tour of the rivers Friday morning on board ‘Philippines,’ one of the “Island Tour” boats.
In fact, she said, the group not only wants Molina removed but accuses the city’s “Task Force Bantay Ilog” (headed by Molina) of protecting certain interests under the pretense of clearing the rivers.
The mayor said Molina has proven to be a big asset in her administration.
She credited Task Force Bantay Ilog for the removal of some 1,800 illegal fish pens tolerated by the past city administration. However, she recalled that the Task Force began to suffer some setbacks when one personnel began sabotaging her efforts.
“While we were removing fish pens, this person was putting up fish pens in some areas in collaboration with some people. His activities were checked and so he was summarily removed. After that, Bantay Ilog, resumed and accelerated its pace,” Fernandez said.
Fernandez said she has information that the dismissed personnel had joined FOOFADCI and is one of those behind the campaign to remove Molina’s as city agriculturist. The mayor declined to name the person.
She, however, accused FOOFADCI of issuing the erroneous report that fish pens are again proliferating under her watch, a situation that is already threatening the quality of water of the city’s river system.
“This is unfair,” decried Fernandez, noting that the group went to the extent of declaring a fish kill in the city’s rivers owing allegedly to the pollution of the river, when in fact the recent death of some 900 bangus in Dagupan was due to the abrupt change of temperature in the water from hot to cold because of the rains.
Mayor Fernandez, however, clarified that Dawana is a good friend whom she consults from time to time. She credited Dawana for the recommendation to establish a navigational lane which the city implemented.
Meanwhile, the mayor maintained that what were reported by FOOFADCI as fish pens based on the group’s ocular inspection were actually fish cages that grow high -value fish like “talakitok”, “malaga” (siganid),”alapa-ap” (sea bass) and lapu-lapu (groupers) which are not being given commercial feeds. (Read allied story titled: “No fish pen, only fish traps, cages”). (Leonardo Micua)
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