PLIGHT OF SMALL FISHERMEN WORST UNDER ARROYO
AND WILL BE MORE WORST UNDER A TRAPO PRESIDENT -MADRIGAL

The Arroyo Administration has totally abandoned the situation of the small Filipino fishermen, and this situation will only get worst if a trapo president is elected.

The government's own report will reveal that fisher-folk, farmers and children comprised the poorest three sectors, with poverty incidence of 49.9 percent, 44 percent and 40.8 percent, respectively. The government's own statistics show Arroyo's all-out abandonment of the fisherfolk sector, in particular, and the rural people and rural economy, in general.

This situation will only get worst under a trapo president with vested interest. The next president must protect the livelihood and income of small fisherfolk from displacement by foreign and local oligarchic business projects, safeguard the productivity and income of fisherfolk and their fishing grounds against the pollution and siltation by industrial, mining and logging companies, upphold the sovereignty, and exclusive fishing rights for their economic benefit of Filipino fisherfolk and the rest of the Filipino people.