Barangay hall, Coast Guard station, resorts encroach easement in Oslob

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Between 2005 to 2020, the shoreline of the four coastal barangays of Oslob town has slowly shrunk as structures mushroomed along the coast.

Oslob, which is famous worldwide for its beaches and whale shark watching activities, is some 118 kilometers south of Cebu City.

In the inventory of structures conducted by the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (Penro), residences, beach resorts, hostels, a cemetery, seawalls, septic tanks, and even government structures were found to have violated the 20-meter easement rule in Oslob’s shores.

Even the Philippine Coast Guard Southern Cebu Station in Barangay Poblacion is sitting on the foreshore, the Penro report said.

The briefing area of the local government unit for the whale watching activity in Barangay Tan-awan also encroaches the 20-meter easement.

The inventory covered the four coastal barangays of the town: Tan-awan, Poblacion, Daanglungsod and Lagunde.

The Penro presented the results of their inventory during the tourism stakeholders meeting in Oslob on Tuesday afternoon, March 3.

According to the Penro inventory, the majority of the structures within the foreshore and the easement zone also lack a discharge permit from the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB).

The meeting, attended by Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, Tourism Regional Director Shalimar Hofer Tamano, environment officials and the tourism stakeholders is set to discuss solving the issue on the encroaching structures /rcg.