Mandaue forms anti-illegal fishing body

CEBU, Philippines – The city government of Mandaue hopes to address illegal fishing with the creation of Bantay Dagat Association and the purchase of a P1.4 million patrol boat for its command center at the City Hall grounds.

City officials led by Mayor Jonas Cortes were present during yesterday’s blessing of the patrol boat in Barangay Looc officiated by Fr. Rogen Leyson from the National Shrine of St. Joseph.

The patrol boat is a 27-foot sea vehicle made of fiber glass and equipped with sonar depth detector, life raft, life jackets, siren, rescue ring and a stabilizer. It can run a maximum speed of 30 knots powered by its 115 mercury horsepower engine and can accommodate up to 20 persons.

Its operation is centralized in Bantay Mandaue command center at the City Hall grounds.

The boat will operate 24 hours daily and will be manned by seven people in four shifts comprising of four personnel and a skipper from the City Agriculture Office and the newly organized Bantay Dagat office and two police officers.

After the blessing, Cortes also swore in yesterday the new officers of the Mandaue City Bantay Dagat Association led by their president Luis Bontoyan.

During yesterday’s turnover of the patrol boat at Looc barangay gym, a commotion took place for a while after the city experienced the 4.7 magnitude earthquake.

Looc barangay captain Cesar Cabahug was about to give his speech when people inside the gym, including Mayor Cortes, Vice Mayor Glenn Bercede and other members of the City Council, rushed outside following the tremor.

They only went back to the gym minutes after to continue with the affair.

After the rites, Vice Mayor Bercede, city councilor Jimmy Lumapas, who is the chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, and city agriculturist Rolando Tiro made a test-run of the newly purchased patrol boat at the boundaries of Mandaue, Consolacion and Lapu-Lapu.