It looks like the city hall is not leaving the city’s rivers until after these waterways are cleared of all illegally-built fishpens and other fishing structures.
As we write this column (my first for this paper; thanks to Kuya Behn for the space), Mayor Benjie Lim himself and his army of demolition men and women were already on their eighth straight day in the operation, which commenced last May 18 in an unprecedented show of force that involved at least 150 personnel from the Waste Management Division, Public Order and Safety Office, Anti-Hawking Task Force and the City Agriculturist’s Office.
This time, no illegal fishing structure was spared, not even those owned by barangay officials and people perceived to be very close to the city hall. Surprised by the unannounced move, frantic fishpen owners and caretakers, who all rushed to the rivers, could only beg Mayor Lim to give them a little time to harvest, before the demolition operatives start pulling up their nets and uprooting their bamboo enclosures.
Even those whose fishpens were properly built in designated places but whose areas exceeded the fishery ordinance-prescribed 300-square-meter area were only given that day to resize their structures; otherwise, these too, were immediately dismantled.
From what we have gathered, the city hall operation was so massive that on its first day, at least 100 illegal fishing structures were removed from Pugaro’s waters alone.
Mayor Lim’s message here was very clear: the city government is compassionate, but it is also dead serious in seeing to it that the fishery ordinance is followed to the letter.
In fact, City Agriculturist Emma Molina said that since the ordinance was implemented last November, her office has only dismantled some 80 illegal fishing structures because the demolition had to be suspended every now and then after fishpen operators repeatedly appealed to the mayor to allow them to raise their bangus until these can be harvested.
But as difficult and as challenging now as the dismantling operations, is the task of keeping the rivers illegal-fishpen free. This is because the river system criss-crossing our city is not a place were law enforcers are visible, making it very easy for illegal fishpen operators to go back and build again.
The city hall should now seriously consider deploying floating assets to immediate stop any attempt to illegally put up a fishpen or any other fishing structure, nipping them in the bud, so to speak. These assets may also double as lookouts against those who indiscriminately dump garbage into our rivers.
With the decongestion of the city’s rivers, the city government can now begin to prove that with the regulation of fishing structures, there is minimal pollution; that the risk of fish kills is substantially reduced; that with increased bangus yields, the city has found a pot of gold.
ENDNOTES: What is this card system that has become the latest talk of the town? To the city government, it means decongested traffic. To most jeepney drivers, it is a waste of time. To the commuters, it means getting to the office late… This week, it will be back to the regular five-day work week in all government offices, including the city hall. Why did it take Malacañang two months to realize that this supposed energy-saving scheme achieved nothing but longer weekends to most government workers? Just asking.
QUICK QUOTE: Nothing is as real as a dream. The world can change around you, but your dream will not. Responsibilities need not erase it. Duties need not obscure it. Because the dream is within you, no one can take it away. -- Unknown
