TF Snapper up for grilling
The lead investigators, from left:
Councilor Perla Zulueta, Eduardo
Peñaredondo and Jose Espinosa III.
Iloilo City -- If certain personnel of the city's Task Force Snapper think they are now off the hook, they better think again. The Sangguniang Panlungsod is all set to dig deep into the issue, passing a resolution to conduct an investigation of the said task force relative to the twin incidents involving fishing boats 3 Sisters and Elmer II.
Iloilo City councilor Ely Estante, chairman of the SP Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Aquaculture, delivered a scathing privilege speech during last Wednesday's weekly regular session questioning the procedures employed by Task Force Snapper personnel in apprehending and later on confiscating a total of some 4,000 kilos of different fishes from the said fishing vessels in separate incidents some two weeks ago.
According to Estante, he finds the procedures employed by members of the task force as irregular, especially after results of examination on the seized fishes conducted by BFAR laboratory examiners reveal that they are not caught through the use of dynamites as what the task force has alleged.
"We need to get to the bottom of this issue to give justice to those who were affected and unnecessarily inconvenienced by the apprehension," added Estante, who proposed a resolution to have the matter investigated by the city council.
Iloilo City councilor Perla Zulueta, chairman of the SP Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, for her part, said the probe should answer two questions: whether a certain Pangantihon, who was alleged to have only looked at the fishes before declaring them as caught through dynamite fishing, is proficient and well-trained in the business of fish examination and whether the task force followed legal procedures in the distribution of Elmer II's catch.
"First question that arise: is Pangantihon proficient in the examination of fish, whether they were caught by the use of dynamites or not? Second, were legal procedures followed in the distribution of the fishes, considering that Fishery Administrative Order No. 206 talks about a promissory note to be executed by the recipients signifying their willingness to pay for the fish if later the respondents are acquitted of the charges against them? We need to know all these things and an investigation of the twin incidents would provide us with the answers to these questions," Zulueta averred.
Questions also arose as to who would be held liable in the event it was later proven that Pangantihon, an employee of the city government, erred in his judgment in declaring the seized fishes as caught by the use of dynamites. Zulueta maintained Pangantihon and those with him during the operations should be held liable for the error and thus be made to pay for the cost of the fishes in the event it is proven these are indeed not dynamited fishes.
The investigating committee is composed of Councilors Eduardo Peñaredondo, Zulueta, Jose Espinosa III and Marietta Orleans, chairpersons of the SP committees on Legal Affairs, Environment, Good Government and Barangay Affairs, respectively. Designated lead investigating committee is the Committee on Agriculture, who will be represented in the hearings by Peñaredondo after Estante, who is a member of Task Force Snapper, inhibited himself from the proceedings.