Butanding rules followed—BFAR

CEBU, Philippines - The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources-7 (BFAR) is happy that its recommendations for the whale shark watching in Barangay Tan-awan, Oslob town is being observed by stakeholders.

BFAR-7 Assistant Regional Director Allan Poquita said their recommendations include “no touching” of the butanding, and designation of a briefing area for guests to be informed on the rules and guidelines before they are allowed to travel a kilometer away to the sea for whale shark watching.

“Oslob is now a booming economy,” said Coquita.

He said whale shark watching brought in a lot of revenue the town was able to generate a gross income of around P35 million from Jan. to Sept last year.

As a result, majority of the fishermen in the area no longer engaged in fishing.

“Ang nahitabo karon kay (What happened is that there is) ni-improve(ment) ang ilang (in their) marine resources. Ninindot na ang ilang (They have a recovering) coral reef kay wala na may mangisda (because no one is fishing anymore). The fishermen are busy catering to the tourists coming for whale shark watching,” said BFAR-7 regional director Andres Bojos.

He made the statement during a press conference yesterday, as the agency kicked off its week-long Fish Conservation Week.

Bojos, though, said that even if the agency made the “no feeding” policy, it has no scientific basis that feeding the whale shark would have an effect on the butanding’s natural feeding behavior.

“Our stand is no feeding gyud. But we have no scientific data yet to back up our stand,” Bojos added.

Coquita added 135 butandings, most of which were male, were cited in Oslob, but only around 12 of them are considered residents in Oslob based on tagging devices attached to the whale sharks.

The butandings in Oslob gained popularity two years ago and attracted local and international tourists.

Meanwhile, Bojos said Central Visayas has enough fish supply.

“We are fish sufficient. In line with our week-long celebration, we are recognizing the efforts of our fishermen in making us sufficient with our fish supply,” he said.

Bojos cited the importance of taking care of our marine or aquatic resources and making it sustainable not just for us but for the next generation.

He said BFAR will hold a joint mobile registration next month with the Philippine Coastguard and the Maritime Industry Authority for illegal fishing vessels locally dubbed as “I-yoyo”.

The said vessels are unregistered and operating illegally.—Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/RHM

P15B Annual Investment Plan ready

for Cebu City Council deliberation

The Cebu City Development Council (CDC) yesterday endorsed a P15.186-billion Annual Investment Plan (AIP), with the biggest allocation for capital outlay at P7.902 billion under the general fund.

Capital outlay allocations are expenditures for the purchase, repair, maintenance of fixed assets like building, land, machineries.

As endorsed, P13.615 billion is under the general fund proper while P1.571 is under the general special accounts.

The second biggest allocation, which is also under the general fund is for maintenance and other operating expenses at P4.64 billion; followed by P1.073 billion for personnel services.

The AIPA represents the list of projects and corresponding expenditure that the CDC, which is composed of representatives of the barangays, non-government organizations (NGOs), and other sectors of society, would like the City Government to prioritize.

City Councilor Margarita Osmena, who heads the city council committee on budget and finance, said the AIPA is more of a “wish list” as it would most likely be slashed by the city council, depending on available fund sources.

The council would have to approve the AIP once it is endorsed by the executive department to the body.

Mayor Michael Rama said “it’s about time that the amount be presented”.

“P15 billion is a good amount to let everybody see the need for such programs and projects,” he told reporters.

In yesterday’s AIP deliberation, NGOs presented their own programs and activities for 2014 but was their proposals unfortunately were not included in the AIP presented during the assembly.

Among the 11 proposed projects that got turned down was that of the Bulacao Senior Citizen Association, which requested for a P5-million financial assistance for the construction of a two-story senior citizen center inside the Barangay San Nicolas Proper sports compound.

With this, Rama urged the NGOs not to wait on his office and instead find their own ways to keep their programs and projects running. He assured them, though, that financial assistance for them can be sourced from the general fund as well as from supplemental budgets.

Also, Rama he reiterated the need to finally create a manual as the CDC has been operating without guidelines laid on paper.

“Like for example, how do we address situations like this nga walay (when we don’t have a) quorum? Things like that. Maayo nalang kay ako kahibalo man ko sa (Good thing I know) parliamentary procedures,” he said.

The CDC also endorsed for City Council discussion the consolidated Executive-Legislative Agenda (ELA) for 2013 to 2016.

The ELA for Rama’s second term of office covered projects jointly discussed and approved by both the mayor and city council members on social, governance, economy, and environmental concerns.

Also in yesterday’s CDC assembly, Councilor Osmena raised the concern on Cebu City losing its “Most Child-friendly” title it bagged during the mayoral term of her husband, former south district representative Tomas Osmeña.

“We are not even trying (to work on still getting it). We did not submit to be included among the LGUs (local government units) to be chosen for the title. UNICEF has been our partner for a long time now. And now, we are disregarding this aspect. I felt the need to raise that up today,” she said. (FREEMAN)