About 5,000 fishermen, fishing boat operators and supporters crowded around the Freedom Grandstand here to urge the Aquino administration in averting the negative impacts they expect to impinge on the fishing industry if he enacts into law said amendments on Republic Act No. 8550 (RA 8550) .
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| STANDING UP FOR WHAT IS RIGHT — Fishermen, including employees of domestic fishing boat operators, stage a protest rally at the Iloilo Freedom Grandstand last Dec. 17, Wednesday, in an effort to reach the ear of President Aquino. Congress, upon the prodding of BFAR, has moved to amend the existing Philippine Fisheries Code, and among the amendments are measures which the fishing boat operators see as exorbitant and highly stringent. If enacted into law, the Panay Fishing Boat Operators Association (PAFISBO), a member of the bigger Association of Philippine Fishing Federations Inc. (APFFI) fears that the hefty penalties will kill the country’s fishing industries and leave hundreds of thousands who depend on the industry without jobs. (Tara Yap) |
The protest action initiated by the Panay Fishing Boat Operators Association (PAFISBO) last Wednesday, follows a similar demonstration mobilized in Zamboanga City last Dec. 8 by the Southern Philippines Deep Sea Fishing Association (SOPHIL) headed by its Executive Vice President, Roberto Baylosis, along with officers and members of two major labor organizations, Philippine Integrated Industries Labor Union (PIILU) and the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP).
Both groups, PAFISBO and SOPHIL are members of the Alliance of Philippine Fishing Federations Inc. (APFFI), all of which are united in vehemently decrying failure by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in consulting with them when BFAR initiated moves that led to Congress’ passing the amendments to RA 8550, which now awaits President Aquino’s signature.
PAFISBO President Jose Ma. M. Borres said their protest action yesterday “is a unified stand of not only fishing boat operators, but of the fishermen themselves. It is not only us, operators who will be affected by these amendments, but those to whom we give employment to who will lose their jobs if the operators close shop.”
The common call is for President Benigno S. Aquino III to veto the amended proposals of RA 8550 passed by both the Lower House and Senate.
One of the placards held up by a demonstrator in last Wednesday’s rally read: “PNoy, Batyaga ang Pumuluyo (PNoy, Feel the People’s Plight).”
The fishermen shared their sentiments on the excessive and nonsensical penalties imposed in the amendments concocted by the both Senate and the House of Representatives in the Philippine Fisheries Code.
Among the penalties are P2-45 million for lack of necessary permits or incomplete permits; P1-3 million for destruction of wildlife habitat; P500,000-P10 million for environmental violations; P100,000 to P5 million for making false statements regarding status of permits; and P100,000 to P5 million for coercing fishery law enforcers.
Moreover, the proposed amendments will also confiscate fishing vessels and fishing gears.
Worse, the boat captain, chief engineer, chief fisherman, and fishing vessel owner can be imprisoned for any of these violations.
Testimonies from fishermen said the new amendments are not only affecting them, but the Filipino consumers who will suffer because, as pointed out by one PAFISBO member, fishing boat operator Arnaldo Borres, Jr., “the Aquino administration wants to please the European Union (EU) by complying with European standards. It seems that government cares more about foreigners than for its fellow-Filipino.”
To recall, the EU has made demands that Filipino fishing boat operators who go fishing in the high seas, that is, in international waters like Papua New Guinea and Palau, to catch such fish as tuna, which are exported to Europe, have their boats installed with such ultra-expensive equipment as satellite-operated Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) and allow observers onboard (whose daily fees running into the thousands of pesos are shouldered by the fishing boat operator). - by Tara Yap - Manila Bulletin
