DAGUPAN CITY, May 10 (PIA) --- Operation of the idle P100-million fish processing plant in Bonuan Binloc is better left in the hands of the city government rather than let a government agency run it, Mayor Benjamin S. Lim stressed during a media forum Tuesday.
Lim said the Korean-funded processing plant which is being operated by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) is now practically a white elephant.
The mayor said that for practical reasons, it is the city government which should run the facility.
It will be recalled that the former city council passed a resolution placing the facility under BFAR because the city allegedly had no expertise in running it. Interestingly, the sanggunian passed the measure before Lim took over, prompting observers to point to petty politics as the reason behind it.
Lim said that Dr. Westley Rosario, head of the BFAR research center which manages the plant, admitted to him that his office does not have the capability to operate it as desired.
He revealed that he had sought the help of former House Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr., in connection with the possible transfer of the facility to the city. De Venecia was instrumental in bringing the Koreans here build the facility for free.
The mayor also bared during the Meet the Press forum of the Pangasinan Tri-Media Association (Patrima) that he had also asked the former House leader for his help in reviving the plan to put up a sanitary landfill in barangay Awai in San Jacinto town.
Lim originally brought up the idea during his earlier term but was met by protests from residents in that barangay and nearby areas.
He said, it was really necessary to put up the garbage facility there so that finally the city can comply with the law. The city has been operating an open dumpsite in violation of the solid waste management act. The same is true for all other towns and cities, except Urdaneta City, which last month opened its P200-million engineered sanitary landfill.
Obviously, the mayor sought out De Venecia so that he can pursue his programs and projects considering the present fragile relationship between him and the legislative under Vice-Mayor Belen T. Fernandez because of their opposing stand on policies and issues.
