[asia-apec 1041] Fishers asked Congress to repeal fish code

[Dete Aliyah]

From: PAMALAKAYA-Pilipinas <pampil at skyinet.net>
Date: February 23, 1999

Fishers ask Congress to repeal fish code,
seek congressional inquiry on massive dumping
of imported fishery products

Two militant fisherfolk organizations staged a rally at the House of
Representatives this morning to press for the immediate and unconditional
repeal of the Fisheries Code of 1998 and urged Congress to probe reports on
the massive flooding of imported fish products in major fish ports across
the country.

PAMALAKAYA, an alliance of fisherfolk organizations, and NACFAR
(Nationwide Coalition of Fisherfolk for Aquatic Reform), in a joint
statement, urged the Philippine Congress to repeal the Fisheries Code
because it has proven to be anti-fisherfolk and pro-monopoly. The groups
said Congress should also look into the massive dumping of imported fish
products as it severely affects the country's domestic fish production and
consumption.

"Millions of fisherfolk have been driven to absolute poverty that is why
the protest against the Fisheries Code is widespread enough to merit its
immediate and unconditional repeal by Congress", the groups said in a
statement.

According to Rodolfo Sambajon, Pamalakaya's chairperson, the country is
exporting more than 70 percent of its produce to fish importing countries
like US, Japan, Hongkong, South Korea and Taiwan. He said in 1995, a total
of 43.8M kilos of  prime fishery products were exported. He said this would
have been  enough to supply the yearly fish need of more than 280,000 poor
Filipino families or approximately 16.8M Filipinos. He said that 60-70
percent of Philippine domestic need relied on the fish catch of small
fisherfolk.

Sambajon pointed out that massive flooding of imported and cheap fishery
products from Papua New Guinea, Pacific Thrust, Indonesia, South Korea,
Japan,
Thailand, Singapore, Panama, Chile and Peru  is killing small fish
producers in the country. He said that some 32M kilos of fish from these
countries have been imported for the same period by virtue of agreements
entered into by the Philippine government under WTO and APEC.

Marilyn Guzman, NACFAR national coordinator, re-echoed the call  for
a stop to the import and export liberalization policies of the Estrada
government. She said that Navotas fishers have reported tens of thousand
tons of imported fishery items from Thailand are dumped in Navotas fish
port and are sold at twenty to fifty pesos per kilo cheaper compared to the
prevailing market price.

Guzman said government should at once stop export and import
liberalization policies before it is too late.  "We can assure the Filipinos
of their fish needs at cheaper prices only if we break existing monopolies
in fisheries and allow the fisherfolk to enjoy the fruits of their labor
through genuine land and fisheries reforms," she added.#