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By Jayson Cruz Luna, Reporter
The Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) has
dismantled since Wednesday hundreds of illegal fish pens and cages
in Laguna Lake as part of the clean up drive to revive the polluted
lake.
After the successful action, the LLDA is now
preparing for the eventual demolition of thousands of squatter
shanties along the shores of the lake.
LLDA General Manager Edgardo Manda blamed these
illegal “aqua structures” for the continued deterioration of
Laguna Lake as they pollute the already murky water of the
900-square kilometer freshwater lake.
“This will be a continuous operation. We will
no longer allow fishermen to build bamboo cages and pens. Nakakadumi
lang lalo,” Manda told The Manila Times as he led yesterday the
second day of the week-long demolitions of illegal structures
around the Laguna Lake area.
Since Wednesday, a total of 446 small fish pens
and cages covering 20 hectares of the lakeshore at the boundary of
Taguig City and Muntinlupa City have been torn down by a combined
team of LLDA and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)
personnel and members of environmental organizations, with the
Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (SAF) providing
security.
Manda said more such structures, including the
shanties of fishermen that encroach the lake water, are scheduled
for demolition in the coming weeks.
“We will still allow fishermen to fish in the
lake, what we will prohibit is the construction of these bamboo
pens,” the LLDA chief assured.
The anti-illegal fish pen operation is a prelude
to the planned eviction of over 34,000 squatter families living
along the 285-kilometer long shoreline of the dying Laguna Lake.
Manda said the agency is in discussions with the
Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council chaired by Vice
President Noli De Castro.
“These squatters should really be relocated
for us to revive the lake,” he said, adding that they are still
finalizing the date of the demolition.
Statistics released by the LLDA showed that
there are 34,650 families squatting along the lake’s shores
covering Taguig City and the municipality of Taytay, Rizal, and at
the Manggahan Floodway (in Pasig City and Cainta, Rizal).
Manda said the largest concentrations of
squatters are in the Napindan Channel in Taguig City and Lupang
Arenda in Taytay.
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