Task force protecting Mandaue sea mulled

CEBU, Philippines - Mandaue City Councilor Jimmy Lumapas has drafted an ordinance which creates the Mandaue City Anti-Illegal Fishing Task Force or the Bantay Dagat.

The said draft ordinance was approved on first reading during last Wednesday's session.

Lumapas in his draft ordinance stated that with the creation of the Bantay Dagat team, the city can ensure the strict enforcement of the penal provisions stipulated in Section 17 of their Local Fishery Code.

The task force shall be composed of 16 members who are currently registered fishermen as required under Section 44 of the Local Fishery Code.

The names of its members shall be submitted by the Mandaue City Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council to the Human Resources and Management Office for the appointment of the members.

The initial appointment of members shall also depend on the availability of the task force patrol boat.

There shall be four cops that will form part of the Bantay Dagat which will be recommended by the director of the Mandaue City Police Office. They shall alternately report based on rotational shift.

Members of the task force shall render daily sea operations. Each of the members shall render eight hours of daily sea work and shall have a rotational shift of three times in a six-day week.

Likewise, members shall conduct operation in a group of four and shall have an accompaniment of one designated police officer in each sea operation.

In addition to the current basic salary of the police officer, as stipulated under Section 41 of the Local Fishery Code, the task force enforcement officer, who may be a fisherman or a law enforcer as authorized by the code, and who has active participation and major role of the apprehension, shall be entitled to 25 percent of the total proceeds of the administrative fines and penalties imposed in the code.

The Bantay Dagat personnel are also entitled to a monthly honorarium of P1,500 which shall be taken from the annual budget of the City Agriculturist Office.

Once the Bantay Dagat in the city will be created, among its functions are to conduct roving operations within the territorial waters of the city on daily basis,  conduct visual search of any possible situation of illegal fishing, as defined and punished in the Local Fishery Code and apprehend violators of fishery code and other provisions of the maritime law.

They are also obliged to turn over apprehended violators to proper authorities for the rendering of the appropriate charges and penalties, secure the pieces of evidence and the illegally-used paraphernalia for proper inventory of the charges and its corresponding penalty and submit monthly report to the Mandaue City Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council.  (FREEMAN)