CEBU CITY, Cebu, Philippines – Despite the rains, at least 200 fisherfolks from a coastal village in Consolacion town, northern Cebu on Sunday gathered to express their opposition against the proposed reclamation project being pushed by the town officials in partnership with a private consortium.
The protesters from Sitio Baha-Baha in Barangay Tayud gathered along the shoreline at about 6 a.m., carrying with them posters made of colored cartolina where they wrote their sentiments against the 235.8-hectare reclamation project.
While they were unrolling their posters on the shoreline, the rain began to fall.
Instead of going home, the group, joined in by fishermen from nearby cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu, stood their ground.
They gathered shellfish and crabs along the shoreline to prove that the waters are rich in marine resources. They then cooked what they gathered and ate these for breakfast.
A study conducted by Dr. Filipina Sotto of the FBS-Environment and Community Research and Development Services, a Cebu-based think tank that focuses on environmental issues, recently claimed that the area was rich in marine resources that included 75 species of corals and seven mangrove species.
She warned of irreversible damage to marine resources if the reclamation project dubbed “Seafront City” would be implemented.
The fisherfolk who took part in Sunday’s activity signed a separate petition to President Duterte, imploring to stop the reclamation project.
This was the third petition sent to President Rodrigo Duterte.
The first was signed by at least 2,000 workers of at least seven shipyards that will be affected by the reclamation project.
Residents in Barangay Tayud, whose livelihood depends on the shipyard operations in the area, earlier wrote a separate petition to Duterte.
The residents included carinderia and boarding house owners and trisikad drivers whose customers were mostly shipyard workers.
This time, it was the turn of the fisherfolk in the village.
Sunday’s protest against the proposed reclamation project was the second to be conducted in less than a month.
Last Oct. 17, about 50 fishermen from the neighboring Sitio Bagacay boarded their fishing boats and caught some fish to debunk the claims of Consolacion Mayor Johannes Alegado and his mother, Vice Mayor Teresita Alegado, that there was no fish in the area due to the presence of the shipyards.