Investigate Outer Cove Marina project – Reyes

Senate Floor Leader Pete P. Reyes has asked Rep. Bobby Guerrero, chair of the House Commerce and Tourism Committee, for a joint oversight hearing into the controversy surrounding the construction and use of the Outer Cove Marina.

Protesters of the current system in place in the marina yesterday met with him and Senate President Paul A. Manglona to air their concerns anew, but said they want the oversight to hasten resolution of the dispute that has already affected commercial operations in the area for the past 18 months.

Mr. Reyes said he wants Mr. Guerrero to chair the joint hearing to be conducted by both houses. “I am confident that legislative intervention will facilitate the early resolution of a very urgent and nagging problem,” he said in a letter to the House member.

Mr. Guerrero is currently on a visit to Washington D.C. along with the House leadership, but the senator’s request is expected to be considered once he returns from the trip.

Boat owners and tour operators have been complaining about the stiff departure passenger fee, among other things, imposed by Marine Revitalization Corp. Likewise, they maintained that the set-up at the Outer Cove poses safety hazards.

MRC, a non-profit corporation, was granted a 15-year lease by the Department of Lands and Natural Resources under Public Law 9-46 on some 16,394 square meters of submerged lands.

Bill Owens, president of BSEA Sunsports who was at yesterday’s meeting with senators, stressed that they are trying to find a solution to the mess which he said is not fully understood in the absence of the oversight hearing.

“We’re trying to progress with an oversight hearing in both houses and… to appeal to the senators in terms of what they approved in 1995… and what we have now,” he said.

“I think the whole reason why we are in this mess is the comprehensive whole of what we are facing is not understood, what we feel is an oversight will uncover,” added Mr. Owens.

In fact, he said they have just been informed that they were not prohibited from using the Smiling Cove Marina where commercial operators were evicted to transfer to the Outer Cove under the deal between the DLNR and MRC.

“What is significant about that agreement… was that what was agreed upon was that we have to move to a marina and we don’t feel we have a marina yet, we feel we don’t have something that is finished,” he said.

According to Mr. Owens, the Outer Cove has no floating dock and no breakwater which will be unsafe for boat owners and tour operators.

It is also the most expensive marina in the Pacific based on their own research, imposing fees that are collectively 2000 percent compared to Smiling Cove, he said.

“I hope some directives will come out of this to allow us to use the marina back, that funding can be found for the Outer Cove and progress for its completion and our use of it,” said Mr. Owens.