The town of Albuera, located just south of Ormoc City in Leyte, is best known for having elected as its mayor the father of a notorious drug lord. Rolando Espinosa Sr. was elected mayor on May 9, 2016 and was killed by the police six months later inside his cell at a provincial jail in Baybay City.
Advertisements
Fearing for his life, the defeated incumbent mayor,Ramon d ela Cerna Jr., resigned right after the elections. Some days later, retired policeman Alfredo Bucabuca was assassinated. In early June, councilor-elect and incumbent barangay captain Vicente Jabon suffered the same fate. Both were supporters of de la Cerna.
Bucabuca was also the complainant in cases filed against Albuera officials who had allegedly used fake documents to claim reimbursements. Ten officials, including two (of five) incumbent municipal councilors, were found guilty and dismissed by the Ombudsman for the Visayas.
With the neutralization of Espinosa Sr. and the arrest of his son Kerwin, the politically motivated violence that had marred Albuera before and right after the elections, ended.
However, despite the political turmoil, some things remained the same in this town of about 47,000 inhabitants: Illegal fishing persists and seems as entrenched as ever. Fine mesh fishing nets banned elsewhere in the country are still openly used in Albuera. Commercial fishing boats known as sensoro, use illegal nets and superlight within Albuera’s municipal waters, waters that are supposedly for the exclusive use of small fisherfolk. Last month, two sensoros were being pursued by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources but, a member of Ormoc City’s Bantay Dagat told me, the crew just laughed at the BFAR personnel.
The illegal fishing by commercial vesselsall owned by localswithin Albuera’s municipal waters has hastened the disappearance of some fish species and caused the dwindling stock of others. Fishermen told me that the sensoro boats with their superlight attract all the fish so that there is nothing left for the small fisherfolk to catch. The fine mesh nets catch even the smallest fishes.
Albuera has no Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council (FARMC). It reportedly has a fisheries law enforcement team but it only targets small fishermen and stray dogs.
Local politicians are either owners of the commercial fishing vessels that operate within Albuera’s municipal waters, or they defend and tolerate the practice arguing that it generates jobs for the poor fishermen who work as crew on the boats. This has been the argument for the more than 10 years that I have known small fisherfolk in Ormoc Bay. However, the net effect of destructive, illegal fishing is loss of livelihood while the strict enforcement of fisheries laws results in increasing fish stock and thus improved catch and income. This is why the country has a Fisheries Codeto ensure that the country’s marine resources are managed sustainably and equitably. Incidentally, the recent (2015) amendments to the Philippine Fisheries Code increased penalties for illegal fishing and strengthened the provisions on law enforcement.
Some fisherfolk leaders from Albuera were able to have an audience with then Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano during a campaign sortie last year. He promised to do something about the illegal fishing in Albuera. Cayetano, who is now the foreign affairs secretary, may have lost the vice presidency but the fisherfolks still believe that he can push some buttons, considering his prominent position as foreign affairs secretary.
Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez of Leyte’s fourth district is pushing for the establishment of an Integrated FARMC to cover Ormoc Bay. This means that the three neighboring LGUsMerida, Ormoc City and Albuera, all part of Leyte’s fourth districtthat surround Ormoc Bay would come together to protect and manage the marine resources of the bay. The Philippine Fisheries Code (Chapter II) states that the management of contiguous fishery resources such as bays, which straddle several municipalities, cities or provinces, shall be done in an integrated manner, and shall not be based on political subdivisions or municipal waters in order to facilitate their management as single resource systems.
I do not know if husband and wife talk about illegal fishing over dinner, but Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez is giving his full support to the enforcement of the fisheries laws. The Ormoc City Bantay Dagat has more than 20 members who receive a small allowance from the city. It has functional patrol boats and conducts regular patrols.
Ormoc City has a large number of households depending on small-scale fishing for survival. Over-fishing, pollution and adverse effects of climate change are taking their toll on the catch. The unabated illegal fishing perpetrated by a few powerful individuals in the next town must be a thorn in the eye of the congresswoman and the mayor. Hopefully, they can push, if not inspire, the people and local government officials of Albuera to finally do the right thing and put an end to illegal fishing.
2010-2017 The Manila Times