Fishers fear losing livelihood with Cordova recla project
Where will we fish if the reclamation project will push through?”
This was the cry of more than a thousand fishermen, who belong to he Panaghugpong sa mga Gagmayng Mananagat sa Sugbu (Pamana-Sugbo), as they oppose the ongoing Cordova Reclamation Project.
Victor Lapaz, chairman of Pamana-Sugbo, said the group have opposed the reclamation project since 1992 because they fear losing their means of livelihood and being displaced from the shallow waters of Cordova town.
Lapaz said the project would displace small-scale fishermen who rely on spear, chumming and panu to catch fish.
Chumming involves luring fish by throwing chum or fish parts into the water. Panu involves fishing using lamps.
Lapaz said fishermen depend on the 300,000 hectare foreshore land, which teems with fish and marine life.
“Asa naman mi maka panu’ kon himoon ni nga reclamation? Dili man mi makaadto sa layo na kay pana og pagpanu’ raman amo nahibaw-an (Where will we fish if the reclamation will push through? We cannot go farther because we only know spear fishing and panu’),” Lapaz said.
A contractor has started dumping filling materials in the coastal barangay of Camolinas for the first phase of the project, which involves reclaiming 10 hectares.
The tidal flat in the area is being covered up.
Lapaz said the group found an ally in environmental lawyers like Gloria Estenzo Ramos of the Philippine Earth Justice Center to bring out the issue.
“Despite our number, our voice isn’t heard. The authorites won’t listen to us. That’s why we are happy that lawyer Golly is helping us ,” Lapaz told Cebu Daily News in Cebuano.
“Despite our efforts to stop this project, the interest of the big local and foreign businessmen still prevailed” Pamana-Sugbu said in a press statement.
PEJC through Ramos wrote last Feb. 14 to Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, the Secretary of the Interior and Local Governments and the Philppine Estates Authority appealing to stop the project of Cordova and the Capitol.
Most of Cordova town’s 13 barangays in Mactan Island rely on fishing.
“Despite our outdated methods and equipment in fishing which includes using a small lamp, line fishing, small net, and spearfishing on a small boat, we still managed to send our children to school because of the abundant catch from the rich sea, said Lapaz in the group’s statement.
They said the reclamation project will remain a threat to the environment and their livelihood.
