Fisherfolk led by the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) picketed in front of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in Quezon City on January 6. They condemned the Supreme Court ruling that allowed commercial fishing in municipal waters. They also held the DA accountable for failing to uphold the rights of small fisherfolk.

According to Pamalakaya, the DA’s silence is deafening amid the loud protests of small fisherfolk against the intrusion of big business into fisheries. They said this does not surprise them since the department’s secretary Francisco Tiu-Laurel Jr will benefit from the ruling.

Tiu-Laurel Jr is the president of the Frabelle Group of Companies, which is involved in deep-sea fishing, aquaculture, canning, food manufacturing, processing, food import and trading, port operations and construction, real estate, and power generation.

Frabelle owns 117 fishing vessels that catch tuna and sardines. Tiu-Laurel Jr also has a personal interest in the reclamation of Manila Bay as president of Bacoor Seafront Corp. and Diamond Export Corp.

Pamalakaya members from Manila Bay, La Union, and Cebu joined the protest. “Commercial fishing has long been rampant in our fishing grounds. They have been able to circumvent the law because of the 7-fathom provision in the Fisheries Code,” Timek ken Namnama dagiti Babassit a Mangalap ti La Union (TIMEK) president George Cacayuran said.

He said the legalization of commercial fishing in municipal waters will certainly unleash big fishing companies. “Very little will be left for our small fisherfolk,” Cacayuran stressed.