BELOW THE LINE By AMBASSADOR JOSE ABETO ZAIDE Ambassador José Abeto Zaide Bangus (milkfish) is the Philippine national fish. But because someone close to a Philippine president had been granted a franchise to smuggle out bangus fry, Taiwan now grows the species in large fish ponds. In the event, the price of Bangus threatens to spike out of reach of the common tao. GALUNGGONG AS PHILIPPINE ECONOMIC BAROMETER.  Enter the galunggong – Decapterus maruadsi (Temminck & Schlegel)..This poor man’s fish from Palawan, Zambales, Davao, and Zamboanga is so popular in the Philippines that a pundit joked it just might as well replace bangus as our national fish. According to the Fisheries Code of the Philippines, local fishermen can fish freely within municipal waters (up to 15 kilometers from the shoreline).  Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) Director and Agriculture Undersecretary Eduardo Gongona (no relation to galunggong) said that what local fishermen are unable to catch within municipal waters are for commercial or larger fishing fleets. According to latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, the fishing sector recently recovered from negative production growth from 2017. The sector grew 2.64% during the 2nd quarter of 2018, compared to the -1.06% recorded during the same period last year. Yet we do not seem to harvest enough.  Because fish have missed our nets, we do not have enough to supply our market. The Department of Agriculture recently approved the importation of galunggong for our local wet markets, citing "national food security,"  Imported galunggong may come from China, Vietnam, or Taiwan to maintain a steady supply of fish, as the closing of fishing season nears.

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Our favorite gadfly Rodolfo Arizala weighs in to share his experience in his previous incarnation as our ambassador to Santiago, Chile.  He recalled the time when Chilean Coast Guards apprehended fishermen from Peru fishing in Chilean waters.  At the Chilean tribunal, the Peruvian fishermen declared: " Your Honor, we were merely following the fish which come from the sea of Peru our country." They were released by Chilean authorities. From the juridical point of view, nobody owns the fish until they are caught. Fish belong to nobody while still in the water. Ambassador Arizala suggested that under the UNCLOS, we could have a "fishery agreement" with Taiwan or other countries because it does not involve "acquisition" or "loss" of territory (maritime or land).  By merely demarcating or designating maritime zones, neighboring countries could use common fishing grounds or "sea-use rights” over maritime zones. No sovereign ownership is involved in a fishery agreement.  In other words, in a fishery agreement, the fish are not owned by the coastal state.

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Parenthetically, it is possible that the fish we import from China are the ones which spawned and came from our West Philippine Sea. Reuters reported Chinese Coast Guard and industrial fishing ship operations at Scarborough Shoal, arguably a violation of Philippine territorial sovereignty. Now, China allows Filipino fishermen at the shoal, but restricts full access to the lagoon. The ratio of Chinese to Philippine fishing boats is about 10:1 in favor of the former. In view of this, is our buying galunggong from China a case of “niluto sa sariling mantica”? The bigger issue, of course, is our stand-off on the West Philippine Sea and China’s nine-dash line.  But that’s another story.

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FLY HIGH!  Passengers distressed by the recent hold-up at NAIA airport harkened to an announcement before the flight.   Cebu Pacific pilot Capt. Rizalino Irizari said that this was to be his last flight.  After clocking  30,000 flying hours in 22 years as Cebu Pacific pilot and 26 years before that with the Philippine Air Force, he said that he looked forward to spending more time with his family and flying at higher altitude in the service of the church. It was a heartening, blissful journey for the Cebu Pacific passengers. FEEDBACK: [email protected]