Lawmakers have urged the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Science and Technology (DoST) to ensure that the "needed technology upgrade and development” will be extended to salt producers in Northern Luzon as part of the country’s fisherfolk sector.
Pangasinan Rep. Ramon Guico III, along with seven other lawmakers from North Luzon, have filed House Resolution No. 1032 calling on the DA and the DoST to use the National Convergence Initiative (NCI) platform to provide much-needed assistance to the saltmakers to “improve their productivity and reclaim lost glory in salt self-sufficiency.”
The resolution also seeks the inclusion of the salt producers in the list of country’s fisherfolk sector to ensure that assistance will be given to them by the government.
“The state of local salt industry faces current challenges such as the limited government policies, and no government agency “adopting” the salt production,” they said in the three-page HR No. 1032.
During a virtual meeting on June 29, the House Special Committee on North Luzon Growth Quadrangle, chaired by Guico, vowed to pass a resolution that would provide assistance to the “disappearing” saltmakers in the coastal barangays, and would task the DA to take the lead in considering the salt makers as part of the fisherfolk.
DA Undersecretary for Policy and Planning Rodolfo Vicerra had told the Guico panel that they are ready to grant assistance to the salt producers under this year’s national budget. However, he said the saltmakers should first be “officially” declared as part of the country’s fisherfolk sector.
Under HR No. 1032, the North Luzon lawmakers urged the government to tap the country’s “big potential for expanding salt production and robust fishery sector."
“There are some parts in the western seaboards of North Luzon such as Ilocos and Pangasinan having modest share in the country’s salt production that used to cover almost all salt consumption,” they noted.
“The Philippines now produces just about seven percent of our total salt consumption thereby relying on importation for the remaining 93 percent, when at some point salt farming was thriving industry in the country such that it is almost, if not 100 percent, self-sufficient when it comes to salt,” they said.
Guico’s group said it would be opportune time to breathe life into to the salt farming industry with the economic integration of Regions 1 (Ilocos region), 2 (Cagayan Valley), and Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), which stands to benefit the people of Northern Luzon.
“A big challenge being faced by our resource managers is to figure out how to reap the economic benefits of coastal resources, while preserving them for future generations,” they said in filing HR 1032.
Co-authors of HR 1032 are La Union Rep. Sandra Eriguel, Kalinga Rep. Allen Jesse Mangaoang, Pangasinan Rep. Arnold “Noli” Celeste, Ilocos Sur Rep. Kristine Singsong-Meehan, Isabela Rep. Faustino Michael Carlos Dy III, Pangasinan Rep. Tyrone Agabas, and Pangasinan Rep. Christopher de Venecia.