Senator Cynthia A. Villar and House Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda on Monday, Jan. 24 questioned the decision of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to import 60,000 metric tons of fish.

During her hybrid hearing on issues surrounding the fish industry as chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform committee, Villar said the DA should have suspended the closed fishing season instead of deciding to import fish for the first quarter of 2022.

The closed fishing season in major fishing areas of the country started in November and this could be lifted as the month of January is about to end, she said.

Villar said an organization of fishermen has said there is no need for import because there is still fish to be exported to the country in the last quarter of 2022.

The lady senator said she sensed that importers pack a lot of influence over the fishermen.

Villar said the fishermen’s organization had complained to her and asked for her help but advised the organization to complain to the President instead because DA officials refuse to hear her own complaints.

The DA recently stated that the country needed more than 800,000 MT of fish to meet the demand for January to March 2022.

The importation was supposedly aimed primarily at stabilizing supply and keep prices in the wet markets from rising. One of the reasons cited for the possible increase in fish prices was the onslaught of super typhoon “Odette” which caused P3.97 billion in damage, and affected numerous coastal and fishing communities.

Additionally, there is the closed fishing season implemented by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) every year in the country’s major fishing areas to allow fish species to spawn and recover. Retail prices of galunggong in Metro Manila averaged between P250 to P260 a kilo last week.

Legarda, an Antique congresswoman, opposed the importation, noting the public outcry and the allegations that the DA needs to address, such as, that there is sufficient supply from the previous importations still unsold that could tide us over, that previous importations have had little or no impact on fish prices, and that the closed season is about to be over.

“We risk further marginalizing many of our small-scale fishers and coastal communities who are already vulnerable to a myriad of social and environmental changes. These policy decisions that tend to further bring down our most marginalized sectors must be based on evidence. Merely blaming Odette and not comparing other measures like faster provision of small boats and safety nets for the marginalized is not convincing,’’ Legarda, a former senator, said.

She said the Philippine archipelago is still rich in resources, ‘’which is why we are repeatedly challenged to enforce laws against poaching.’’

In today’s hybrid hearing, Villar again questioned the failure of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to install fish hatcheries since 2016.

She said she and the BFAR quarreled over the failure of BFAR to install fish hatcheries although this is mandated by 37 laws and that BFAR has the budget.

In the budget hearing last year, Villar said BFAR Director Eduardo Gongona that five fish hatcheries would be completed at the end of 2021 and another 25 would be completed this year.

The Villar committee conducted a hearing on 12 bills proposing the establishment of hatcheries in Dinagat Islands, Samar, Northern Samar, Davao del Norte, Camarines Sur, Antique, Occidental Mindoro, Nueva Ecija, and Bataan.

She appealed to the mayors and representatives attending the hearing to check on the implementation of these laws.

“This guarantees the sustainability of the country’s marine product supply. These bills will help resolve overfishing and dwindling fish catch for the small fisher folks in these areas since they will be given priority access to their own town’s marine resources and new technologies, including the processing and preservation of fish catch,’’ she added.

Villar said government has allocated P6 billion budget to BFAR to construct the fish hatcheries at a cost of P20 million each.