Dagupan
Poor Give Way to 'Bangus'
Dagupan
City authorities want to build a bangus (milkfish) processing plant
with a production capacity of 60,000 milkfish a day. If the local
officials have their way, 274 households will be dislocated from their
homes and transferred to a place devoid of basic services.
BY JONG DELA CRUZ
Bulatlat
DAGUPAN CITY –
Is bangus (milkfish) more important than people? For the local
officials here (200 kms north of Manila), the answer is yes if the people
belong to the urban poor.
Urban poor
settlers here face a bleak Christmas as their homes may be demolished to
give way to a processing plant.
Early this
month, Dagupan City Mayor Benjie Lim ordered the formation of a Special
Survey and Planning Team through Executive Order No. 101 to prepare the
affected community of Sitio (sub-village) Bagong Barrio where the proposed
Bangus Processing Plant (BPP) will rise. The 10.38-hectare land is located
north of the city facing the mouth of Lingayen Gulf.
The BPP’s total
project cost is estimated at P160 million ($2.84 million, based on an
exchange rate of P56.315 per U.S. dollar). It is a flagship project of Lim
and was awarded P50 million ($887,862.91) by the Macapagal-Arroyo
administration.
Affected
residents said that the project would not benefit small bangus
(milkfish) catchers and breeders but “big stakeholders” including those
who won in the May 2004 elections.
Bangus for sale
The proposed
processing plant will serve as station for deboned, smoked, dried and
canned milkfish that will be exported to the United States and Japan.
According to
the local government, the plant has a production capacity of 15 metric
tons or 60,000 pieces of milkfish every day. Profits could reach P3
million ($53,271.77) daily or P1 billion ($17.76 million) annually.
In his speech
during the Bangus Festival in April 2003, Lim said, “We want the city to
be a major exporter of our famous Bonuan Bangus to earn foreign revenues
and create jobs for our people.” President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the
same event led the groundbreaking ceremony and extended support to the
so-called most modern fish plant in the country.
The project,
according to the city government, can provide 3,000 jobs, giving priority
to the affected residents of Bagong Barrio. The manual task of de-boning
alone shall employ 1,500 local workers, it added.
The Philippine
Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA), the project proponent, said the
4,500-square meter plant facility will include site development. The
latter will respond to its eco-tourism components such as nature parks,
boat port and fish trading center. The Department of Environment and
Natural Resources (DENR) will maintain 4.5 hectares of land for its Urban
Forestry Scheme in partnership with the local government.
No consultations
Since its
inception in April 2003, the proposed BPP has earned the ire of the
affected residents and various cause-oriented groups.
Joan Mackay,
32, an affected resident and a leader of women’s group Gabriela-Bagong
Barrio, revealed that the local government failed to thoroughly consult
the residents before it issued a notice of clearing and relocation in
April last year.
Mackay decried
the “one-way talks” between the representatives of the local government
and the sitio’s (village’s) captain Ricardo Mejia. “When the
government began to gather signatures from residents to get their consent,
it was then that we knew about it,” she said.
Data gathered
by Gabriela-Bagong Barrio revealed that 274 households will be affected by
the demolition.
Marlyn Vidal,
54, one of the early settlers in the area, said that about 35 years ago,
the sitio was still a mass of floating garbage but they were able
to develop it by dumping soil and sand that are now the lot they occupy.
“The sitio
is just one of the many abandoned lots in the city that are used by
the urban poor. We now are called ‘squatters’ by the government just
because we are benefiting from the lands they used to ignore,” Vidal said.
In a dialogue
with city officials, the affected residents proposed on-site development
instead as alternative means to cultivate the land but the local officials
countered that putting up the BPP will bring progress not just to Dagupan
but nearby towns.
Resettlement issue
Gabriela-Bagong
Barrio condemned the local government’s decision to relocate the affected
residents to areas that are devoid of facilities.
Pugaro Island,
the first relocation site intended by the government, is almost underwater
all year round, the group said. It added that the P10,000 ($177.57)
offered by the local government for each house that will be demolished is
not enough for them to build one in the supposed relocation site.
The local
government also proposed the 53,175-square meter lot within Tondaligan
Park, Gueset to serve as relocation site for the affected community. This
area will be segregated from the rest of the park to relocate squatter
families who would later want to own the land.
In November
2003, the Kalinga Foundation, a non-profit support group, worked with the
local government to build a resettlement facility found near the affected
area.
However, the
affected residents denounced the local government’s attempt to divert the
issue between them and urban poor settlers. They said they continue to
oppose the BPP because the land they currently occupy provides access to
basic services such as school and livelihood.
Should the
government pursue the project, a relocation site complete with amenities
and access to basic services must be first ensured, the residents said.
Influenced by the Left?
In a radio
interview, Lim criticized “left-leaning” organizations that allegedly
infiltrated the area and capitalized on the situation of the affected
residents to further their interests.
He said the
residents should not be influenced by leftist groups because they are not
the ones who will provide the solutions to their problems like relocation.
However, Rev.
Fr. Eleuterio Revollido, chairperson of the Pangasinan chapter of Bagong
Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN, or New Patriotic Alliance) said, “It is right
to take the side of the affected residents since their right to life,
dignity and just development is at stake in this issue.”
BAYAN revealed
that the proposed plant will provide contractual labor to the affected
residents and could lead to exploitation. The wage in the manual task of
de-boning is pegged between P15 to P20 ($0.27 to $0.36) an hour within a
three-shift workload a day.
Revollido
said the proposed plant, which will commercialize the milkfish, would be
used by the so-called big fishes in the local ruling elite to earn
superprofits. Bulatlat
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