DENR-7 exec call for talks with Bantayan officials, Yolanda-affected fisherfolks facing relocation

Fisherfolk rally in front of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-7) office in Barangay Sudlon, Lahug (CDN PHOTO/ CHRISTIAN MANINGO).

Officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Central Visayas (DENR-7) is calling for a dialogue with the Bantayan town officials and Yolanda-affected fisherfolks to solve the issue of their relocation from their previous homes to give way for the establishment of ecotourism sites.

Eduardo Enting, DENR’s assistant regional director of technical services, assured the fisherfolks that they will assess the area soon where they are planned to be relocated as well as the ones reported where the government officials of Bantayan town will open up resorts.

Enting gave this assurance to the around 50 fishermen from Bantayan town and their supporters from the nongovernment organization, Pamana-Sugbo during the group’s rally in front of the DENR-7 office in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City early yesterday morning.

The fishermen were protesting against the government’s no-build zone policy, which prohibits residents to put up their houses within the 40-meter easement from the shoreline as this is considered a hazard zone during the onslaught of calamities.

Freddie Valendez, acting chairman of Pamana-Sugbo and a Yolanda survivor, also told officials of DENR – 7 of the Bantayan town officials plans to prop up ecotourism activities on the very site where they are barred to live.
Valendez said that there are around 150 families to be relocated within the 40-meter easement from the shoreline.

Enting said that they did not know about the Bantayan officials’ plans.

“For the meantime, we suggest that we – DENR and you – will conduct another round of dialogue together with the officials from Bantayan Municipal Government to find a more absolute resolution for this issue,” said Enting in Cebuano.