MASANTOL - The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is continuing its demolition of the hundreds of fishpens along the Pampanga River in Macabebe and Masantol towns.
Earlier, hundreds of residents and local officials including Mayor Danilo Guintu of Masantol town have openly expressed their strong opposition to the project which, allegedly, did not pass through careful study and public consultation.
Guintu stressed that the project's being continued might cause and not resolve the flooding problem of the municipality and the province as a whole.
He said that fishpens act as secondary dikes which “protect” the Pampanga Delta Dike and their removal might lead to its destruction.
However, the DPWH asserted that their office is only acting based on the mandamus of the Supreme Court which states that all structures and other nuisances that discharge solid and liquid wastes into the Pampanga River must be removed to avoid further pollution of Manila Bay.