Shrimp hatchery operators charged

CEBU - The Cebu Provincial Prosecutor’s Office has indicted the operators of a hatchery in Liloan for alleged illegal importation and culture of shrimps.

The prosecutor’s office found probable cause to charge Lin Chia Ching and Elnes Bellocelio in court for violating the Fisheries Administrative Order No. 225 and 225-1 after they were caught operating the Samaryan Hatchery in barangay Catarman, Liloan without the necessary permit from the government.

Provincial prosecutor Pepita Jane Petralba approved the filing of the information of the case before the Regional Trial Court in Mandaue City and recommended P80,000 bail for each of the accused.

Joint operatives from the BFAR-7 law enforcers, technical personnel and the members of the Liloan Police Station raided the Samaryan Hatchery last June 26 based on a search warrant issued by Regional Trial Court Judge Marilyn Yap in Mandaue City.

The raiding team found out during the raid that Samaryan Hatchery have 17 major concrete tanks used to culture “Penneus Vannamei” shrimps, an imported specie that is not found in the Philippines.

Eight of these tanks were filled with Penneus Vannamei brood stock, two were filled with juveniles another two were filled with fry and five tanks were filled with eggs. A total of 19,340 pieces of brood stock; 3,500 pieces of juveniles, 1.021 million pieces of fry and 12.7 million pieces of eggs were confiscated by BFAR during the raid.

The authorities also seized the equipment and other paraphernalia used in the hatchery operation.

BFAR-7 assistant regional director Allan Poquita said the hatchery is operating illegally because it did not have the required accreditation from their office. He said culturing Penneus Vannanei specie of shrimps without the required accreditation from BFAR is criminally punishable under Fisheries Administrative Orders No. 225 and 225-1.

Bellocelio and Ching denied the charges claiming that they have not imported shrimps. They explained these were locally purchased from Dagupan City by their Taiwanese partner who has already died.

They also questioned the statutory basis of the administrative order that they allegedly violated because the secretary of the Agriculture does not have the authority to penalize violations of the rules and regulations to be promulgated pursuant to the fisheries code.

However, the prosecutor’s office ruled that administrative agencies possess quasi-legislative or rule-making powers. Nevertheless, the prosecutor said they are not the proper agency to determine the validity and constitutionality of the administrative order, which was used as basis in the filing of the case.

The prosecutor’s office said that their rule is only to determine probable cause, which they found to exist in this case. — Fred P. Languido/WAB (THE FREEMAN)