Samsam to connect fisherfolks to the management of ongoing reclamation project
More or less 200 fisherfolks from Barangays Tangke and San Roque in Talisay City staged a protest against the ongoing reclamation project in the area on Monday morning, November 8, 2021. | Photo by Mae Fhel Gom-os
MANDAUE CITY, Cebu — Talisay City Mayor Gerald Anthony “Samsam” Gullas said the city government will connect the concerned fisher folks to the management of the ongoing reclamation project in Barangay Tangke and San Roque.
Gullas assured them of this following the protest of more or less 200 fisherfolks in the these barangays on Monday morning, November 8, 2021.
Joksan Branzuela, a fisherman and vice president for external of Mananagat sa Talisay Pamo Association (MATAPA), said they were worried after receiving reports that their docking area in Barangay San Roque would be reclaimed by the Cebu South Harbor and Container Terminal Complex (CSHCTC).
Branzuela said the original plan was only a 25-hectare private port development, of which they agreed sometime in 2019 during the dialogues and public hearings.
“Naaksyon mi’g kabalaka sa karon nga panahon kay dili naman mao ang ilang nasabutan. Ilang project propasal, gipakita nga pictures sa pantalan, dili naman mao naghatag naman hinuon og hulga sa amoa,” he said, stressing that parts of the seawater, including their docking area was already given a lot title to a private individual, which could be used for the expansion of the said project.
(We are starting to get worried at this time because this is not what we agreed upon. Their project proposal, they showed pictures of the port, it is not the same as what we agreed upon and this has now posed a threat to us.)
“Naa gyud ni among mga sakayan, kon maabunuhan ni di nami makagawas o makasulod pag paingon ug pag uli gikan sa pagpanagat. Naaksyon mi’g kabalaka kay dili mani maoy among kasabotan,” said Branzuela.
(There is our boat and if they will reclaim this area we cannot anymore enter or leave the area when we head out to sea and we cannot return from fishing at sea. We have become worried because this is not what we agreed upon.)
With this, he said they would like the mayor to facilitate with a dialogue between them and the CSHCTC management, citing that they would want to clarify if there were changes in the agreed plans of the project.
“We will help them like we always have. We will connect them to the management,” said Gullas.
“Because like I told the fisherfolks when I met them I believe a week or 2 weeks ago. No development without proper consultation with the sectors affected,” the incumbent mayor added.
Councilor Jojo Bacaltos, who heads the committee on environment and natural resources, for his part, said they would meet with the associations of fisherfolks who staged a protest to clarify the latter’s concerns.
Bacaltos said they would do this before they would talk to the management of Cebu South Harbor and Container Terminal Complex (CSHCTC).
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