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Senators on Monday chided officials of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) over its late action against the illegal diversion of pink salmon and pompano to wet markets.

Senator Raffy Tulfo, who first questioned BFAR's sudden strict implementation of the Fisheries Administrative Order No. 195, questioned the agency why fish vendors are unaware of the order.

But during the Senate Committee on Agriculture's hearing on the issue, BFAR officer-in-charge Demosthenes Escoto pointed out that the Bureau explained that had been implementing the Fisheries Administrative Order No. 195 since 1999.

Escoto said they reinforced the order due to the prevalence of illegally diverted pompano and pink salmon to wet markets.

"Recently, we received reports that there are a lot of illegally diverted fish and fishery products in the wet markets," Escoto said during the hearing on Monday, December 12.

"This has become prevalent, necessitating the Bureau to expand its operation and adopt an end to end monitoring of imported products," he further explained.

However, Tulfo pointed out that nobody knows, not even fish vendors, are aware of the order.

"Where did you implement it? If you were really implementing it then why are there so many pompano and pink salmon at fish markets? We also haven't heard of this order since 1999," Tulfo pointed out.

He said the BFAR should have disseminated information about the FAO 195 through the media so fish vendors could be warned about the issue.

Small vendors, he lamented, are now afraid of losing income and their livelihood.

Escoto admitted that there is a delay in the implementation but they are now moving to address the problem.

"We recognize ho sir that maybe it has been a little bit late but we are moving forward to address that," the BFAR official said.

"Because we noticed that in the past years, it really became rampant," he said.

Sen. Cynthia Villar also questioned how the order would be implemented when BFAR does not even have a first border facility.

"How will you implement when you don't have a first border facility? We gave you money to establish the first border facility in 2019, but until now that is not being implemented," said Villar, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform.

Upon Sen. Grace Poe's question, Escoto affirmed that the BFAR has defered the implementation of FAO 195 in the wet markets.

But Poe also scolded BFAR for implementing the FAO 195 without any warning and without formal dialogues with fish vendors.

"You shouldn't just suddenly tell them that this is your decision. You should have told importers and sellers about your decision first and give them some assurance they won't go bankrupt and their products wouldn't go to waste," Poe told BFAR officials.

For his part, Tulfo said BFAR should review FAO 195 saying the order itself is "anti-poor."

Tulfo urged Escoto to be fair to ordinary Filipinos when they come up with future administrative orders.

“First and foremost, I would like to thank BFAR for temporarily lifting the ban on the prohibition," Tulfo said.

"If you need help in disseminating information to the public, I’m willing to offer my radio program and we have lots of friends from the media who can help you spread awareness to the plans that you want to implement,” he assured BFAR officials.