Mayor hit for ‘intervening’ fishing activities

SOME 70 fisher folks in Sitio Bungol, Barangay Balaring, Silay City scored Mayor Jose Montelibano Jr. for stopping them from taking Angel Wings locally known as Diwal in the coastal areas of the said barangay because the City Government prohibits it.

The city imposes City Ordinance 4 Series of 1997, which bans and prohibits the use of fishing gear and other fishing equipment that may cause damage to the marine life.

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“I will not allow anarchy in the city and if indeed there is, the City Government will not tolerate it,” Montelibano said over a television interview Monday.

But the fisher folks said that whenever they will get the sea product they do it manually.

Lawyer Janus Jarder who stands as counsel to the fisher folks said that he will file an injunction against the mayor and the City Police Chief Jerry Bartolome for his clients’ defense.

“It is very clear that the people whose main source of livelihood is in the form of only collecting shells that they did not violated any provisions of law,” said Jarder.

At a press conference, the fisher folks led by Ricardo Baylosis, 62, said that the city government deprived them of their livelihood.

They even scored the city government for sending two batches of policemen last Saturday and detained three of their companions who that time whose catch were confiscated.

Detained were Gemma Villarin, Susanna Dumlao, and Jose Rucio.

Baylosis recalled that they discovered Diwal proliferating in the area in 2009 and had become then as their main source of income.

But they only learned last March 3, this year, when CENRO officer Jason Benedicto informed them that they should no longer get any of the sea product because it is being cultured already and can only be harvested by the city government.

Before, each fisher folk could get a minimum of Diwal a kilo to as much as three kilos which they sold P100 a kilo.

But since they have been stopped from harvesting, they said they have virtually lost their source of income.

Police Chief Bartolome, Benedicto and a certain Jason Andy whom the fisher folks claimed was responsible for meeting them in a chapel who represented the city government, could not be reached as of press time for their comments.