PILI, CAMARINES SUR (June 9, 2012) – The people of Presentacion, Camarines Sur led by the religious sector are asking the intercession of President Aquino to address violations and illegal acts committed against the people ranging from rampant illegal fishing, illegal logging and the substandard construction of a national road.
A resolution under the heading Office of the Church Council of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, North Bicol Conference, Parubcan Evangelical Church, based in Presentacion (formerly Parubcan), Camarines Sur mentions of violations like substandard construction of the Lagonoy-Presentacion-Caramoan National Road and rampant illegal fishing at the waters of Lagonoy Gulf and illegal logging in the municipality of Presentacion.
Residents who use the newly constructed national road complain of “terrible travelling condition” because the roads are of sub-standards build and are now destroyed and often impassable. The national road is under the jurisdiction of the DPWH 3rd engineering district of Camarines Sur.
The same resolution, sent by Parubcan Evangelical Church Council chairperson Sister Charmy Alde Beronio and signed by 15 other council-members, is also addressed to concerned cabinet officials like Secretary Rogelio L. Singson of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH); Sec. Ramon J.P. Paje of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR); Sec. Proceso J. Alcala of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and Sec. Jesse M. Robredo of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
Acting on the complaint, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) national director Asis G. Perez has directed the BFAR regional office here to look into the reports by the Parubcan Evangelical Church Council of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) that rampant illegal fishing is perpetrated by huge commercial vessels affecting the livelihood of small fishermen in the municipal waters of Presentacion and Lagonoy Gulf in Camarines Sur province.
Camarines Sur Provincial Fisheries officer, Sante Noblefranca, said that a team under the BFAR’s “quick response group” was already dispatched to apprehend three-tonner vessels called “kalansisi” that regularly operate in the municipal waters of Lagonoy Gulf using illegal fishing gears.
In 2011, BFAR national director Perez sent the BFAR’s national “quick response” task force to combat illegal fishing in the San Bernardino Strait, San Miguel and Lamon Bay, Mandaon, Masbate area of Ragay Gulf and Sorsogon Bay, acting on the petition of the Archbishop of Nueva Caceres and 7 other Bishops in Bicol sent to President Aquino in behalf of fisher folks, who were members of the Catholic Action Center in Bicol.
The resolution also reports of unabated “timber poaching” or illegal logging in over 5,000 hectares of the Lagonoy National Park, one of very few remaining protected areas in Camarines Sur province. (SONNY SALES)