News Briefs
Mandaue task force vs illegal fishing set up
THE Philippine Coast Guard’s Cebu office will be tapped to join the “Anti-Illegal Fishing Task Force” of the Mandaue City government.
City Councilor Jimmy Lumapas said the council recently approved the city’s own fisheries code which institutes a task force that will monitor and protect the city’s coastal resources.
The task force will be comprised of personnel from the Coast Guard office and the City Agriculture Office which will use the nearly P1 million speedboat bought by the city government.
Lumapas said the local fisheries code will enable the task force to apprehend fishermen that encroach on the city’s waters.
The ordinance bans outsiders from fishing in the city’s waters which will be delineated, he said.
Fishermen who use explosives, fine-mesh nets and active fishing gears like trawl and purse seines will be penalized. Violators will be fined from P500 to P5,000.
Lumapas said fishermen from neighboring towns and cities were attracted to Mandaue City’s waters since it is a breeding area for fish near Cansaga Bay bridge and Mandaue. Reporter Jucell Marie P. Cuyos
Lawyer fined for no-shows
A CEBU-BASED lawyer was fined P5,000 for missing several hearings.
Regional Trial Court Judge Raphael Yrastorza of Branch 14 fined lawyer Augustinito Hermoso, the former legal officer of the Department of Public Works and Highways in Central Visayas (DPWH-7).
Hermoso was among several officials dismissed from government service in relation to the alleged anomalous purchase of 1,800 decorative lampposts in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu.
He explained to the court that he could no longer represent DPWH since he’s no longer connected with the office since December 2011. But Hermoso’s explanation didn’t satisfy the court.
During a hearing on the case last December Hermoso was not around and only the counsel of the plaintiff was present.
Hermoso’s absence drew the ire of Yrastorza who, in open court, decided to sanction Hermoso.
Another hearing of the case is scheduled on Friday, Feb. 22. Hermoso represented DPWH-7, a respondent in a civil case filed by Evelyn Rañises whose lot in barangay Lahug Cebu City was used as a road by the government agency.
In her complaint, Rañises said he acquired the lot from her mother Rosalia who purchased the lot from the Cebu City government on Nov. 30, 2008.
She said DPWH used 216 square meters of her lot in a road widening project on the way to Marco Polo Plaza.
Rañises said she sent a letter to the Cebu City government and the DPWH questioning her lot’s acquisition without her authority.
She said both the city government and the DPWH did not make any response.
Rañises got a favorable decision when Yrastorza ordered DPWH to pay P1.5 million to the plaintiff in 2003.
DPWH was also mandated to pay P50,000 as attorney’s fees, and P50,000 in litigation expenses.
DPWH, through the Solicitor General’s Office, contested the ruling before the Court of Appeals which set aside the RTC decision on the amount which the plaintiff is entitled to receive.
The appellate court remanded the case to Yrastorza for proper determination of the just compensation. Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol
