Press Release
August 3, 2008

Villar urges government to act on fishermen's woes

While most Filipinos subsist on a rice-and-fish diet, government has yet to launch a program that would cushion the blow of high fuel prices on fishermen who bring that cheap protein source to Filipino tables.

Senate President Manny Villar lamented this fact today and urged the government to help the country's 1.4 million fishermen "ride out the storm of oil price spikes" as some of them have begun grounding their fleet to protest government's inaction on their plight.

Villar said the massive hemorrhage of fishing and cannery jobs in the Zamboanga peninsula and the move by Iloilo city fish boat owners to suspend operations should "serve as a wake-up call to government to address their fuel woes."

If government remains indifferent to the fishermen's plight, then the supply of cheap canned fish and dried fish, both Filipino diet staples, will be put in jeopardy, Villar warned.

"Baka lata na lang, pero wala ng isda na maisisilid," Villar said. "

Since oil prices began inching upward a year ago, Villar has been prodding the government to extend gas subsidy to fishermen, arguing that up to 80 percent of what they earn from their dwindling catch is used to buy fuel for their boats.

He said government can set up diesel discount lanes in gas stations for fishermen. "If they were able to do it for jeepney drivers why can't they do the same for them?"

Villar said government should also study the possibility of subsidizing the conversion to LPG of the engines of small boats.

He said the reported pilot runs of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources of boats using lightweight sails should be funded. Villar said he has been told that these boats raise the sail in going out to sea but reverts to diesel engine in hauling their catch back to port.

Villar brushed aside fears of logistical difficulties that would prevent the handing out of aid to fishermen. "Government was able to give out 500-peso fertilizer discount coupons to rice farmers, which is a more complicated operation."

He said "fishermen need help now or like some species they catch they will also become endangered species."

When diesel was selling at P14.90 per liter in 2003, 51 percent of fishermen were already "ultra poor," Villar said. "You can just imagine how many of them have crossed into the poverty line now that diesel is nearing P60 per liter," he said.

If Zambonga sardine fishers and canners are to be believed, many have indeed been driven to penury. Officials of the Southern Phil Deep Sea Fishing have told reporters that 14 companies in the area have shed off a total of 50,000 jobs.

In Iloilo City, the owner of the city's biggest fishing fleet, Jumbo Fishing Corp. said he now keeps at least 30 of his boats on dock daily as he will be losing money if he will send them out to sea.

Villar, son of a shrimp vendor from Bataan, said "unknown to many, fishermen are first to feel the impact of gas price increases because in catching fish, they don't swim out to sea but use motorized bancas."

"The major ingredient in catching fish is fuel. You need fuel to power boats, to make ice that will preserve the fish, and to run the vehicles that will bring the catch to market, "he said.

Villar said a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources research showed that the share of gas and oil to the total fishing expense of a coastal fisherman ranges from 31 percent, for those who use shrimp gillnet, to a high 80 percent of "drift, hook and line" fisherman.

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