CEBU CITY – Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia has given operators of floating cottages in Cordova, Mactan Island 10 days to stop their operations.
Garcia issued the ultimatum when she and Cordova Mayor Cesar Suan met owners of the floating cottages Wednesday, August 17, to discuss measures after high levels of coliform were detected in the town’s seawaters.
There are more than 400 operators of floating cottages in the town.
It was discussed during the meeting that the floating cottages should cease operation to allow the seas’ rehabilitation.
“You have fair warning, 10 days are left. On August 29, the order will be implemented stopping the operations,” Garcia said.
Garcia is also expected to issue another Executive Order (EO) “to make her recent instructions binding and official.”
Her intervention was sought by the local government to help address what they described as a “brewing environmental disaster” involving floating cottages on the town’s coasts and seawaters.
The town said the uncontrollable number of floating cottages is responsible for the poor waste management and rampant pollution in its waters.
It also discovered that the structures were considered illegal after the operators failed to secure all permits needed to operate.
The cottages also encroached designated easement zones.
Recent findings of the Environmental Management Bureau- Central Visayas (EMB-7) showed that the coliform level of the town’s seawater has reached 1,300 most probable number (MPN) per 100 milliliters (ml).
The allowable level of fecal coliform for coastal waters to be safe for bathing or swimming is at 100 MPN per 100 ml.
The EMB 7 report showed that the level of fecal coliform in the seven stations where the water samples were collected ranged from 170 to 2,400 MPN per 100 ml.
The EMB-7 has recommended that immediate course of action must be made in order to address the pollution found in Cordova’s seawaters.
Coliform is the term used to describe the types of bacteria usually found in a human or animal’s digestive tract.