January 11, 2010


Marking its first year and a half of operation, Task Force Taal Lake conducted an evaluation and planning workshop last January 8, 2010 at Riego de Real in Alitagtag, Batangas, where its proponents unanimously appraised the year 2009 as an environmental triumph and a testament to the Batangas Provincial Government’s political will.

“We believe that in the long-run, our detractors would see the benefits of what we in the Task Force are presently doing in Taal Lake,” assessed Gov. Vilma Santos Recto, the main proponent of the fish cage dismantling and regulating activities in the country’s third largest lake and its outlet, Pansipit River.

Despite immense opposition from influential groups resisting changes in the way Taal Lake is being managed, the task force pursued its pro-nature agenda under the direction of Provincial Administrator Victor M. Reyes, who reported that over 5,000 illegal aqua culture structures had been removed by the end of 2009. 

For 2010, the group’s initial project is to complete an inventory of the actual number of fish cages still present in the lake relative to the agreed upon maximum structure quantity that shall be allowed to operate within the legal fish cage zones.

Reyes, who also attributed the task force’s success to the full support and cooperation of the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources, Protected Areas Management Board, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and the Philippine National Police, among others, likewise related that no fish kill occurred in 2009, a fact that can be attributed as a positive effect of the task force’s all-out campaign.

Gov. Santos Recto affirmed that the required 2010 budget for further Livelihood Assistance Packages for families in coastal communities directly affected by the conservation drive, through the Provincial Planning and Development Office, Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office, and Provincial Cooperative Office, is already in place and all set for implementation. - Vince Altar /Jenny Aguilera