Oslob resort owners volunteer to demolish ‘illegal’ structures

CEBU, Philippines — Resort owners and residents in the Municipality of Oslob, a popular whale shark watching site in southern Cebu, have volunteered to demolish parts of their structures that have encroached the easement zone.

In exchange for their pledge, the 20-meter easement zone has been cut back to three meters.

Yesterday, Governor Gwendolyn Garcia along with Regional Directors from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Tourism (DoT) and representatives from the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) met with residents from barangays Daanlungsod, Lagunde, Poblacion and Tan-awan to discuss their adherence to the 20-meter easement zone.

Under the 20-meter standard, it was found out that 420 structures, both residential and commercial, have violated the easement zone law.

The 420 structures include 89 commercial establishments and 21 residential structures in Barangay Tan-awan, 20 commercial establishments and 70 residential structures in Barangay Daanlungsod, 33 commercial establishments and 119 residential structures in Barangay Poblacion, and 15 commercial establishments and 53 residential structures in Barangay Lagunde.

Article 51 of the Water Code of the Philippines prohibits the building of infrastructure within specified easement zones.

Article 51 states that “The banks of rivers and streams and the shores of the seas and lakes throughout their entire length and within a zone of three meters in urban areas, 20 meters in agricultural areas and 40 meters in forest areas, along their margins, are subject to the easement of public use in the interest of recreation, navigation, floatage, fishing and salvage.”

“No person shall be allowed to stay in this zone longer than what is necessary for recreation, navigation, floatage, fishing or salvage or to build structures of any kind,” it further states.

Later in the meeting, it was elaborated that the four identified barangays have met the requirements in order to be classified as urban barangays.

For a barangay to attain an urban classification, it must hold a population of 5,000 residents, host a commercial establishment with 100 employees or five commercial establishments with at least ten employees each.

The four barangays are the first of the total fifteen barangays in the municipality to have completed the inspection and inventory of establishments.  JMD (FREEMAN)