LAPU-LAPU City Mayor Paz Radaza is confused by the results of the water sampling done by the Environmental Management Bureau that indicated that the sea waters of Mactan are infested with coliform bacteria.
She said the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) regularly monitors the sea waters of the Hilutongan channel where most resorts and swimming areas are located and the monthly water samples taken randomly does not show coliform contamination beyond tolerable levels.
The mayor said there is even a non-government organization that also monitors the toxicity of the sea waters but never found it unsafe for swimming.
“It’s bad news to us. It discourages beachgoers and tourists and could result to a decrease of the city’s income. Maybe they should have coordinated with our CENRO office so we will know where they got the samples and we will investigate how the area got contaminated,” said Radaza.
She said that she learned that the Hotel, Resort, and Restaurant Association of Cebu (HRRAC), composed of establishments, which are mostly located in Lapu-Lapu City will ask for an explanation from the EMB or question its sampling result.
Engr. Roderico Tagaan, Lapu-Lapu CENRO head confirmed in their regular monitoring of the beaches in the city, they never found it unsafe nor did they discover establishments disposing their waste in the sea.
A resort executive who refused to be named said, the EMB is generalizing their findings which might have been based from samples collected only in one or two areas and released the result in general.
Part of the cleanup of the Mactan sea waters is removing all the structures within the government’s easement zones.
Owners of an estimated 3,000 structures along the Mactan channel from Barangays Poblacion, Pajo, Pusok, Ibo, Buaya and Mactan had been given a notice of eviction.
Owners of boarding houses, structures used for commercial purposes and piggeries were advised that these would be demolished.
Radaza also initiated a regular coastal clean-up of the shoreline along Mactan channel.
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