Villagers Oppose
Multimillion Fish Plant
The Dagupan City
government sees more importance in the export potential of bangus
(milkfish) than the welfare of poor residents. Not surprisingly, residents
have resorted to blocking the local government from entering the area
where the fish plant project is being built.
By JHONG DELA CRUZ
Bulatlat
DAGUPAN CITY – Every
possible entry to the Sitio (sub-village) Bagong Barrio, Barangay Gueset
in this city is currently guarded by villagers, aimed at preventing the
city government from entering the 10.7 hectare sub-village where a fish
plant project – backed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo - is being
built.
The city government
is eyeing the Bagong Barrio Redevelopment Project as an industrial-tourism
complex for the Bangus (milkfish) Processing Plant. The project which
costs P150 million ($2.77 million, based on an exchange rate of P54.17 per
US dollar) consists of a nature park, boat port, trading center and
vehicle terminal. President Macapagal-Arroyo earmarked P50 million
($923,020.12) for this project.
Lot contested
Joan Mackay, chair of
the local chapter of the women’s group Gabriela, said her group along with
ally Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay or alliance of urban poor
groups), has an ongoing dialogue with the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources (DENR). Mackay’s group maintains that part of the area
be awarded to them for residential use. DENR awarded the lot to the city
government last year.
In a technical
report, Community Environment and Natural Resources (CENRO) officer Roger
Pimentel said that a 4.5-hectare area is being conserved as the Urban
Forestry project established in the 1980s. The forested area, serving as
buffer zone, will be converted to a nature park in the fish plant
facility.
Dislocation
The contested land,
located at the mouth of Pantal River, is home to informal settlers since
the 1970s. Villagers said the early settlers developed the area which used
to have silt deposits.
Mackay said the city
government refused to relocate the 290 families saying that are
rent-owners.
Rudy Fernandez,
special project assistant, said that to fast track the project, Mayor
Benjie Lim has allotted P1.2 million to build 40 housing units in the
Bangusville Relocation site.
‘Big fishes’
Lim stressed that the
4,500-sq. m. fish facility, capitalizing on the world-famous Bonuan bangus,
will generate foreign earnings and create jobs for the residents.
According to him, by-products like frozen-deboned, marinated-deboned,
smoked-deboned, and canned-deboned will be exported.
But Mackay said that
only the “big fishes,” consisting of huge investors led by the mayor will
benefit from project. She maintained that the fishing village provided the
villagers with livelihood while the project promises false job security as
the city government offered contractual labor.
She said the
impending eviction is only part of a wide-scale urban poor dislocation to
make way for various development projects intended to develop Dagupan as
an industrial and tourism center. Bulatlat
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