Cops asked to investigate potassium nitrate dealers

Councilor Edgardo Labella has called on the city police to look into the reported presence of illegal dealers in barangay Pasil engaged in the distribution of potassium nitrate, which is considered an essential ingredient in dynamite manufacturing for illegal fishing.

Labella, in a proposed resolution filed at the city council, cited an incident last November 20 when a certain Romeo Largo was arrested at Gindakpan Island in Talibon, Bohol, by Criminal Investigation and Detection Group agents for possession of 21 sacks of Chinese-made potassium nitrate.

Largo, in a newspaper report, claimed that he bought the substance from a certain dealer in barangay Tangke, Talisay.

"One effective way to demobilize the makers and users of dynamite for illegal fishing operations is to deny them access to potassium nitrate," Labella said

Explosive experts estimated that a kilo of potassium nitrate can be made into four regular-sized bottles of dynamite, which means that the seized sacks of potassium nitrate can be converted roughly into 2,300 dynamites, Labella said.

Labella said the confiscation of foreign-made potassium nitrate could imply that illegal-fishing operations "might continue to wreak havoc on the dwindling fishery and marine bounties in the sea waters of the Visayas, including Cebu City."

This also showed that local fishermen already have access to potassium nitrate from abroad through illegal distributors in the city.

Labella said studies on the impact of many forms of illegal fishing in the seawaters of the country showed that, in addition to overfishing, around 95 percent of our corals might have been damaged and are now facing total destruction.

"Undeniably, the fast-paced decline of our remaining fishery and aquatic resources could be substantially put on hold if the illegal practice of dynamite fishing will be stopped," he said, adding that the police should pin down who is this dealer in Pasil could be. - Cristina C. Birondo