‘Cordova recla can clean up tidal flats’

Like his Toledo City counterpart, Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy said he believes that  Mactan’s tidal flats facing Cebu City are  polluted and that the only way to “clean it up” is through reclamation.

He spoke yesterday after divers retrieved a reef monitoring device placed in the seabed for a year in the Alegria marine sanctuary in Cordova town.

Cordova town’s barangay Alegria in the east coast faces Olango’s tidal flat.

Marine life is scanty in  the area since  corals there were badly damaged by dynamite fishing until the town declared it a marine sanctuary.

Sitoy said the situation is different in the oppositte coast  facing Cebu City.

“Barangay Alegria is facing Bohol, the contaminated area is there.  Contamination from Cebu City is there. Shell island (and other barangays) that is why we will clean up that area, and proceed with the reclamation,” Sitoy said.

He said the town tapped the University of San Carlos’ marine biology department to help in the marine assessment in the proposed 1,500-hectare reclamation area in the southwest part of Cordova facing Cebu City.

Sitoy said he believes that SM Prime Holdings Inc., will  do a parallel assessment once the partnership will be sealed at the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA).

Sitoy’s opinion is similar to  that of Toledo City Mayor John Henry Osmeña whose city plans to do a smaller reclamation of 11 hectares in barangay Poblacion.

Sitoy said even if the 1,500-hectare reclamation project is completed, there is still a 2,000-hectare littoral zone for  marine species to thrive and for fisherfolk to fish.

“We are initiating programs for  fisherfolk such as scholarships and health programs and livelihood,” Sitoy said.

He didn’t elaborate on the conditions of the programs set for the fisherfolk that may be displaced if the project pushes through.