Town folks defend Bolinao’s Patar Beach eco-tourism zone

By Jojo Riñoza

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – The Bolinao Concerned Citizen Inc. (BCCI) is up-in-arms against an aqua-feeds manufacturer, which plans to put up a aquaculture project near the famed white sand Patar Beach or the so-called “Boracay of the north” in Bolinao, Pangasinan.

 
BCCI Chairperson Margaret Celeste has raised a protest with the local government and has been on social media assailing the construction of Feedmix Specialist, Inc. II (Feedmix) of a marine Finfish hatchery which, they alleged, has violated several environmental and local laws and will eventually damage Patar Beach. 

Celeste narrated that local residents had initially taught the structures being built were just residential buildings. But when village officials started to ask questions, they found out that the construction had no building permit and that the structure being built was intended for a Feedmix’s fish hatchery. 

This was where the problem started, said Celeste. 

“Feedmix officials appears to have no knowledge that there is a local zoning law in Bolinao, they did not even bother to apply for a building permit,” she adds. 

Bolinao is divided into four zones – a multiple-use zone, trade and navigation, fisheries management and eco-tourism zone. “Barangay Patar and Ilog-Malino were decreed by the Municipal Council as a special eco-tourism zone. The Feedmix structure is in the wrong zone,” said Celeste.