Casiguran, Aurora – On December 13, 2023, the APECO team headed by PCEO Taway and DA Mantuano and their technical team paid a courtesy call to honorable Mayor Roynald S. Soriano of the Municipality of Casiguran.
The Municipality encompasses a vast portion of the APECO jurisdiction located in Brgy. Esteves that holds Parcel 1 of the Ecozone covering 496 hectares.
In their open and honest conversation, Mayor Soriano relayed his concerns to the new management with how APECO operated for the past years, which PCEO Taway vowed to correct. Going further, he issued his heartfelt desire to strengthen the bonds of partnership between the Ecozone and its home municipality. “Kahit po hindi pa kami bahagi ng APECO nung panahon na iyon, nais po namin na humingi na ng paumanhin kung hindi po naging ganun ka-open ang nakalipas na management sa inyo. Sa akin pong pamumuno, pinapangako po namin na mananatiling bukas ang APECO at hindi po ito magiging sarado para sa mamamayang DiCaDi, lalong lao na sa mga taga-Casiguran.”
More than the promise of open facilities, APECO management promised to create deeper cooperations with the Municipality. Initial points discussed were the partnerships to operate and expand the Dibacong Fish Port, where PCEO Taway stated that the policy for fishing industry locators would be two-fold: First, fishing operations must include processing within the Ecozone so that it would not primarily be extractive in nature. Second, fishing operations and processing operations must not have any negative environmental impact on the beach landscape that serves as the pride and joy and seasonal industry driver for the municipality.
Furthermore, APECO is proposing entering into an MOA with the Casiguran Sanggunian and Mayor Soriano for the development and operation of the Dibacong Fishport, which is currently under study. This proposed MOA is a 180-degree pivot from the previous treatment that the Municipality received, as APECO strives to uphold its vow to become more consultative.
Finally, APECO is proposing having cooperation for shared first responders and other Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Operations, so that resources for these efforts can be shared to the municipality in times of need.