The fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas or Pamalakaya has lauded the Department of Environment and Natural Resources order to dismantle fish pens in Laguna de Bay starting this year.
The next step, the group said, is the complete rehabilitation and preservation of the 90,000-hectare brackish lake—by opening the Napindan Hydraulic Control Structure in Taguig City.
The NHCS has a channel that prevents the flow of saltwater from Pasig River and Manila Bay to the lake that would desalinate Laguna de Bay and keep it purified for commercial and industrial purposes, Pamalakaya said.
However, the NHCS harms the residents of Laguna and the lake itself because saltwater is essential to the lake “to keep the ecological balance that gives nutrients to the fish and other lake species,” the group added.
“In effect, the existence of the Napindan channel puts the country’s largest lake in its dying stage,” Fernando Hicap, Pamalakaya chairman, said. “The Napindan promulgates flooding mitigation in the communities around the lake and in Metro Manila, but in reality, it aggravates the flooding in Laguna de Bay communities because it prevents the water from flowing out of the lake.”
“Although it’s a welcome development, abolition of fish pens should be followed with strong restrictions from industries and factories that dump their chemical and industrial wastes into the lake,” Hicap said.
The DENR should “then completely open the Napindan channel and let the salt water mingle with the lake’s fresh water to bring back its ecological balance for the benefit of small fishermen and urban poor families that depend on the lake,” Hicap said.
The group said the “real score” behind the construction of Napindan is to transform the lake from being a productive fishing ground into a permanent potable water source for residents of Metro Manila, and for its waters to serve the cooling machines of thousands of factories and industries along the lake.
Before the construction of the Napindan channel, Laguna de Bay fishers caught an average of 10 to 15 kilos of fish per day. After it was built, the average catch “dropped drastically to 2 to 5 kilos per day,” Hicap said.
“Napindan opened the floodgates of conversion that led to destruction of the once-productive waters of Laguna de Bay. It is crystal clear that NHCS was constructed to gradually convert Laguna de Bay into eco-tourism, industrial and business hub at the expense of small fishermen and their families’ sustainable livelihood,” he added.
Pamalakaya said dismantling the fish pens is not enough to bring back the natural wealth of the lake. DENR’s moratorium order for all fish pen applications in Laguna de Bay should be permanent, and no corporate-owned fish pens should be left behind in the demolition to make municipal fisherfolk regain their communal fishing ground, they added.