By Ruben A. Veloria

 

ZAMBALES, Philippines — Stakeholders, particularly the fishing communities, in the coastal towns of this province express full support to the on-going River Restoration Program (RRP) at the mouth of major river systems here.

Speaking for the 28,000 fishermen-member of the Zambales Provincial Fisherfolks Association, president Paulo Quiteneg claimed that fishermen from the towns of San Felipe and San Narciso are enjoying the benefits RRP.

“In fact, we were able to catch 25 to 30 kilos of fish every day,” said Quiteneg. He added that the RRP or locally referred to as “dredging”, refreshes their fishing grounds, “that is why we catch more fish at the mouth of Santo Tomas and Bucao Rivers compared to months before.”

The show of support came after a group who claimed to be concerned environmentalists protested against dredging operations in the municipalities of San Narciso and San Felipe because it allegedly “destroyed marine habitats, reduced their income, and exposed their communities to coastal erosion and sea-level rise.”

Quiteneg belied those reports and clarified that there is no truth about the reported problems of the fishermen in Zambales allegedly caused by the continuous dredging operations at the mouth of major rivers here.

From the municipality of San Felipe, Barangay San Rafael Chairperson Marlita Santos claimed that before the river dredging, they have to go to far places in the sea to catch fish. “But months after the dredging has begun, fishermen noticed that fish start to show near the mouth of Sto. Tomas River,” she said.

Chairperson Santos encourage the public to visit Barangay San Rafael to see for themselves the bounty of the fisherman’s catch such as sting ray, grouper (lapu-lapu), jackfish (talakitok), shrimps (alamang), pigeon pea (tabios), which they could also buy.

Meanwhile, Engineer Doming Mariano, Zambales Provincial Government Consultant on Engineering and Infrastructure Development, said the River Restoration Program is a product of intensive and comprehensive study for the mitigation and control of massive flooding in the province of Zambales.

“A brainchild of Governor Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., the dredging of major river channels: Santo Tomas and Bucao Rivers, which are clogged with lahar and sands since Pinatubo eruption in 1991, helped to accommodate run off waters from the mountains instead of rushing to the communities and cause floods,” Mariano said.

Among the rivers affected by the RRP are Sto. Tomas River in San Narciso, Maloma River in San Felipe, Tangway River in Cabangan, and Bucao River in Botolan.

Mariano said that in collaboration with the DENR, DPWH, DOTr, and local government units, the RRPs in those main river systems were implemented and since then no communities were experiencing major floodings.

Bernabe Almandres, chief of the Zambales Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), said that since 2013, their office repeatedly declared that marine habitat along the stretch of coastline in San Narciso and San Felipe, non-functional fishing ground because of the absence of coastal or coral reef, seagrass bed, or mangrove.

But since the start of river restoration Bucao River and its adjacent coastal areas are now becoming functional fishing ground for shrimps, ponyfish (sapsap), and swordfish,” Almandres said.

For his part, Barangay Sto. Niño Chairman Elbert Abille said that more than 500 business owners in his barangay are willing to cooperate with the local government to resolve the land issues in their area, and express their support to the River Restoration Program.

“Since RRP has begun clearing the rivers of Maculcol and Santo Tomas, fish started to become abundant in the area, and fishermen catch grouper and jackfish (talakitok), but bigger than and more abundant than before,” Abille said.

Engr. Mariano noted that the RRP is a gigantic blessing for Zambales, which the national government could not afford to fund considering the magnitude of the amount needed clear the rivers of debris.

“Instead, the Provincial Government is earning millions of pesos in revenues, based on the ordinance that requires regulatory fee for every truckload of extracted sand from the river,” Mariano said.