Zambales fishers assert rights to beach access blocked by resorts

IBA, Zambales — Small-scale fishermen in Zambales urged the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Tuesday, October 13, to act against the proliferation of beach resorts that block their access to the sea, their only source of livelihood.

In a rally monitored by policemen at the Zambales Provincial Capitol, members of the Zambales Provincial Fisherfolks Association (ZPFA) waved banners reminding beach resorts that they cannot monopolize coastal areas, pointing out that these are part of the public domain.

“Wealthy people build structures along the shore, while poor fisherfolk who belong to the marginalized sector and ought to be protected are denied entry to the beach,” rued ZPFA president Paulo Quitaneg.

“We won’t tolerate this anymore,” Quitaneg added, stressing that structures built on the shoreline are illegal under the law.

ZPFA members also pointed out that while Zambales municipal waters yield adequate harvest, illegal structures in beach communities effectively curtail their livelihood.

Delia Magtalas, a resident of San Narciso, said that in the recent habagat season, resort owners forbade her from docking her fishing boat in front of their resort for needed repairs.

“They said it would block their customers,” she recalled. The boat, worth P75,000, was subsequently destroyed during the typhoon, Magtalas said.

Quitaneg also observed that some resorts have put up gates and demanded entry fees, thereby restricting public access to the shore.

It is ironic, he said, that most resort owners are not natives of Zambales, and yet they can effectively prevent Zambaleños from enjoying their own natural resource.

“So, the fisherfolk are here today to speak from the heart, to condemn these illegal structures that block our access to the sea and ask the DENR to take action against them,” Quitaneg added.

The fisherfolk protest further fueled the debate on coastal erosion in the province, particularly at Sitio Liwliwa in San Felipe town, where structures in no-build danger zones recently collapsed due to strong waves.

Authorities have stressed that accretion areas like those in Liwliwa and coastlines where sediments from Mt. Pinatubo have collected over the years are unstable and remain unclassified public lands that cannot be legally titled or developed with permanent structures.

Zambales Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer Marife Castillo said that as early as 2008, the DENR had declared these areas danger zones and prohibited construction thereat. However, some sellers and buyers apparently ignored the warning, she said.

Castillo said the DENR, along with the provincial government, has recently started surveying and delineating foreshore lands and profiling occupants to manage accretion areas in the province.

So far, the DENR has issued notices of violation to 1,071 occupants and establishments in coastal accretion zones for illegal construction, lack of building permit, and infraction of environmental laws, Castillo said.