Personnel from the Cordova Police Station secure the area where floating and fixed cottages were being demolished in the Municipality of Cordova on Tuesday, October 25. | Photo courtesy of Major Michael Gingoyon, Chief of Cordova Police Station
LAPU-LAPU CITY, Philippines — The Municipality of Cordova has started the demolition of the remaining floating and fixed cottages in the coastal waters of Barangay Poblacion and Catarman on Tuesday, October 25, 2022.
This was in relation to Executive Order no. 36 issued by Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia titled “Ordering the demolition or removal of illegal structures, such as floating and fixed cottages, within the coastal waters of the Municipality of Cordova.”
Garcia, earlier set the deadline for the demolition of these structures on October 4.
The governor ordered the demolition of the structures after it was discovered that the waters where they are located contained high levels of fecal coliform.
However, Mayor Cesar “Didoy” Suan has appealed to the governor to extend the deadline for the demolition until October 19, to give operators and owners ample time in dismantling their structures.
Currently, from more than a hundred floating and fixed cottages, around 44 floating cottages and 11 fixed cottages were still not yet demolished in the said areas.
The demolition of these structures will last until October 27, 2022, in coordination with the Philippine National Police (PNP), PNP Maritime Group, Philippine Coast Guard, Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, Department of Health, Cordova Marine Watch, Solid Waste Management, representatives from Cebu Provincial Capitol, and barangay officials from Catarman and Poblacion.
The Cordova Police will deploy 50 police personnel to safeguard the implementation of the demolition in the area.
As a humanitarian approach, Suan instructed to return the demolished structures/materials to the identified operators/owners of the cottages while those from unidentified owners of demolished cottages will be stored at the Public Cemetery in Brgy. Cogon. /rcg
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