FIVE days after he assumed office, Cordova Mayor Cesar “Didoy” Suan issued his first executive order (EO), which prohibits the construction of illegal structures such as floating cottages, among others, along legal easements and within the town’s coastal areas.Suan signed EO 1 on Tuesday, July 5, 2022, after he received a letter from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) dated Jan. 9, concerning the floating cottages that have been operating in Barangays Poblacion and Catarman, areas considered as “no-build zones.”Aside from being illegally constructed along easements, Suan said majority of the floating and fixed cottages were constructed without any permit or clearance from the Municipal Government.“The same is detrimental to the environment and a blatant disregard of the rules on the legal easement and other government laws for that matter,” Suan said in his EO 1.According to DENR’s Administrative Order 2021-07, legal easements are “determined to be applied, such that, a three-meter easement zone and a 20-meter easement zone shall be adopted for urban and rural areas, respectively.”Suan also ordered the barangay chiefs of the town and other concerned offices to cease issuing any permit or clearance for individuals operating floating cottages within their jurisdiction. (ANV / JKV)