180 ILLEGAL FISH PENS IN PUGARO

THERE are 180, not 50, fish pens that were constructed in Barangay Pugaro beginning July this year, three months after the city government reportedly dismantled the last illegal fish pen in the city’s rivers and tributaries last April.

This was confirmed by Barangay Chairman Ador Bancod, who at the same time, acknowledged receipt of the order of the City Agriculture Office to have all the fish pens removed on or before December 31, 2015.

The agreement to dismantle was contained in the memorandum issued by the City Agriculture Office (CAO) and duly acknowledged by the fish pen owners, barangay officials including Bancod who owns two fish pens himself.

Bancod defended the proliferation of the fish pens citing the plea of his constituents who were dependent on the industry for their livelihood.

He said the river in their barangay was then cleared but the illegal fish pens returned on March this year.

He said he agreed to allow some 50 structures initially to be constructed without the permission of the CAO and the mayor but when others later they learned about it, the number eventually rose to 180 at present,” said Bancod.

He also confirmed a fish kill incident last September 18 which killed 150, 000 bangus, an incident that was earlier reported to The PUNCH by a Pugaro resident.

“On September 23, the mayor ordered the dismantling of our fish pens as I have two structures, but we begged to the mayor’s consideration since we lost a lot in the recent fish kill and our bangus fry are still very small for market”, said Bancod.
He said they were finally given an extension until the end of this year.

“I will lead the dismantling of the illegal fish pens by the end of this year”, he said.

Bancod, however, said he and the other fish pen owners are hoping that a new policy for the operation of a regulated fish pen will be introduced soon.

“Because the truth is fish pens are helpful in the bangus industry in the city and in the livelihood of the people especially in the island barangay”, said Bancod.

He added there is still uncertainty about an alternative livelihood for the fish pen caretakers.

“While it is true that the city gave alternative livelihood like the raising of high value fishes, not everyone here was given the capital so we are hoping that there will be more livelihood assistance for our constituents”, said Bancod.

The city government also gave livelihood assistance to the fishermen’s wives.

Sarah Comesario and Armida Bancod were the two of the four remaining housewives who are into drying fish or daing and making salted fish or alamang.

The housewives earn P2,500 each per month from the capital provided by the city.
“We have a lot of orders since Mayor Fernandez opened this opportunity to us a year ago but now we cannot supply much because we are short in capital,” he said.  “Sometimes we tell our customers we have no stocks because we have not collected the payment from our previous delivery “, said Comesario.

They said not all the housewives that were trained continued with the new livelihood because of lack of capital and the nature of the work.

“They complained it is so hot and need a lot of working hours that’s why we are only four left”, said Bancod. (Hilda Austria)

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