A national organization of small fishermen has accused the Revilla clan of Cavite of “killing” the local tahong industry in Bacoor by pursuing ambitious multibillion-peso land-reclamation projects.
The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) chided Bacoor Mayor Lani Mercado Revilla for trying to reclaim a total of 420 hectares of Manila Bay in the town of Bacoor, Cavite.
“Whatever dream the Revilla political clan has in Bacoor, they should spare our mussel [tahong] farms and moreover, our fishing rights and community,” Fernando Hicap, national chairman of Pamalakaya, said in a statement.
Last Thursday, Pamalakaya’s municipal chapter, the Alyansa ng mga Magdaragat sa Bacoor picketed the Public Scoping assembly held by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources at the Bacoor City Hall Gymnasium to protest the planned land reclamation.
The proponent presented two reclamation projects; the 100-hectare Diamond Reclamation and Development Project that costs P13.5 billion, and the 320-hectare Bacoor Reclamation and Development Project amounting to P42 billion.
“While Mayor Mercado-Revilla has bragged about the ‘development’ these reclamation projects would bring to her town, she forgot to mention the devastating impact it will inflict to thousands of fishing and coastal families who will be displaced in exchange for her dream to install a commercial and business district [CBD] in Manila Bay that according to her, would be bigger than the Bonifacio Global City [BGC],” Hicap said.
Pamalakaya lamented that only 300 hectares of Bacoor’s 700-hectare municipal waters will be left once the reclamation pushes through.
In a separate statement, Myrna Candinato, president of Alyansa ng mga Magdaragat sa Bacoor and a mussel grower in Barangay Maliksi III said with the planned reclamation, the local government unit will “kill” the tahong industry in the town.
“The Revillas are literally killing the tahong industry in Bacoor by planning a massive ejectment of mussel farms and displacement of thousands of mussel growers to pave way for reclamation projects,” Candinato said.
“We don’t want to be relocated to far-flung settlement areas where there are no livelihood and basic social services nearby. We call on the public to support the struggle of Bacoor fishers and coastal residents against this evident sellout and destruction of our municipal waters being carried out by the local government unit itself,” she added.