Punchline
DENR vs. the mayors
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
Last week, I thought DENR Sec. Lito Atienza said a mouthful.
He declared his strategic policy this year to intensify the protection of the country’s environment and natural resources. The strategy — to ensure that the full force of the law is meted against anyone who will violate the environmental laws protecting land. air, water and forests.
Finally, we have a DENR chief who believes that “the certainty of punishment is the best deterrent to the commission of a crime.”
Assuming this is not doubletalk, or a signal to lobbyists that the “toll fee” will be doubled, our municipal and city mayors better be warned. It is no secret that all violations in the country are made possible with the imprimatur of mayors and, yes, governors. Hence, the primary violators that Sec. Atienza speaks of are the local government officials. Nothing happens in their territories without them knowing. In some cases, it is Sec. Atienza’s bureaucracy that makes it easier for the envi-bandits to operate.
To date, with the exception perhaps of Urdaneta City that claims it operates its own sanitary landfill, all mayors in the province are guilty of maintaining and operating open garbage dumpsites. Note that while the mayors have been warned repeatedly by DENR in the past about their violations, they always managed to get reprieves.
After that brave declaration, will we really see a different Mr. Atienza in 2009? Will he dare seek the suspension of some mayors who continue to flout the law and refuse to close their open dumpsites?
Will his special environment representative in the province, Guv. Spines, stand up for him and be the province’s environmental guardian? Or will the Guv go against him and be the mayors’ salvation?
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In Dagupan City, there are two Bonuan barangays where serious violations of environment laws continue to this day – the District Jail in Bounan Gueset (owned and operated by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology) and the open dumpsite in Bonuan Boquig (maintained by the city government).
In both cases, the laws are being violated not by private entities but by a government agency and the local government unit. Accountable are the chief of the BJMP and City Mayor Al Fernandez Jr.
Aah will Sec. Atienza see be a man of his word? Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen.
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THE SEASON FOR FISH KILLS. Over the decades, the summer season used to be a red-letter period for one and only one event û summer vacation for students! Today, summer is also the period when the red flag is raised for environment and business – the season for fish kills!
Over the past ten years, the frequency of fish kills in the province, particularly during summer, has increased. Not only are millions of pesos in investment lost but the degradation of the province’s rivers worsens every year.
How is it possible that fish kill now occurs with regularity? I see three causes.
First, insatiable greed among the fish pen operators (both legal and illegal) is the main culprit for this industry’s annual ignominious malady. Its subsequent consequence is corruption. How else can greed lead to more underserved profits if one does not bribe government agents to look the other way when breaking laws and rules?
Second, inaction and apathy of government units tasked with overseeing the strict implementation of ordinances on fishing. With no modern technology, the enforcement agencies are virtually inutile.
Third, the lack of political will of mayors and barangay officials to strictly enforce the observance of standards and rules governing fishing in rivers.
Fish kills in Binmaley have stopped. It only took Mayor Sammy Rosario to say – Enough is enough.
In Dagupan City, after a series of fish kills, the city government finally found its voice to say “Stop!”. City Administrator Alvin Fernandez already started the dismantling and demolition of illegal fish pens. But will the city hall succeed? I doubt it. Why it’s taking city hall too long to complete the task tells me there is still a lack of political will on the part of the Fernandez administration. If the Binmaley template is the standard, then Dagupan is nowhere near being a success story.
But far and beyond the dismantling of the illegal fish pens, there is the question of regulation. Supervision and regulation of the operation of the fish pens is practically nil to this day. Legitimate operators, like their illegal cousins, overstock their pens and dump huge amounts of chemical feeds into the river with impunity. No sanctions are applied against those overstock and do not clean and dredge the river banks’ bottom of the feeds that pollute the rivers.
Until strict regulation is had, fish kills will be with us for a long long time.
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