THE Cordova municipal government will be fined P50,000 for dumping limestone in a fish pond in barangay Ibabao without an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC).
Engr. William Cuñado, regional director of the Environmental and Management Bureau (EMB-7) said their investigation last April 14 confirmed that there was no ECC issued to the town for the reclamation project. The reclamation is for a proposed slaughterhouse project.
He said they received a complaint from the heirs of Delfin Miranda, lessees of a fish pond in barangay Ibabao, who said limestone were dumped in a 1,000 square meter portion of their area last March 25.
Dande Miranda, one of the heirs, said the limestone were dumped by the Virlo Construction Development Corp. without their permission.
He said they were not notified by the Cordova municipal government about this.
Fine
The regional Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR-7) confirmed that Miranda is leasing the 1,000 square meter fish pond since May 19,1992.
Under the Fish pond Lease Agreement (FLA), the lessee will lease the fish pond for 25 years. The agreement will expire on Dec. 31, 2015.
During yesterday’s technical conference at the EMB-7 office, Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy said the municipal government will pay the P50,000 administrative fine and will secure the ECC.
He said they dumped the limestone materials in the fish pond in order to cut down on expenses.
“The area was our proposed site for the slaughterhouse because we don’t have any other place to build the project. I took advantage because we have an application for lease so we started dumping the excavated materials for it is near. The excavated materials will just be dumped beside it,” he said.
Application
The mayor said they asked the Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) if there were already applicants for lease of the fish pond but there were none.
He said they just knew that Miranda’s FLA is with BFAR-7.
Elvie Flores of the Fisheries Regulatory and Law Enforcement Division said the Cordova municipal government wrote the bureau on May 21, 2014 seeking to lease the fish pond area.
She said the application is still pending in the BFAR central office.
Sitoy said their violation on the roll-on-roll-off port terminal in barangay Poblacion was already settled.
Endorsement
He said they paid P30,000 administrative fine and secured an ECC two years ago.
“Wa lang sila mangayo sa among record kay amo unta sila tagaan sa among receipt (They didn’t ask for our records. They should have told us so that we can provide them our receipt),” he said.
But Cuñado said they will check all the documents passed by Sitoy to verify the mayor’s claim that the town already settled the fine and requirements for building the ro-ro port terminal.
Sought for comment on the Cordova incident Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III, chairman of the Cebu Provincial Reclamation Authority (CPRA), every town knows about the provincial ordinance on reclamation projects.
“They know that before doing any reclamation work, they need the endorsement of the province to secure approval from the Philippine Reclamation Authority,” he said.
Davide said the CPRA will meet next week to discuss the Cordova case and other proposed reclamation projects in the province.
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