May the mountains yield prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness.
May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor.
—Psalm 72:3-4

The Christians for National Liberation (CNL)-Northern Negros welcomes the recent pronouncement of Bishop Patricio Buzon of the Diocese of Bacolod opposing commercial fishing in municipal waters as a positive development in light of US-Marcos regime’s continuing systematic sellout of our natural resources to imperialist interests and their local conduits.

We call on the Catholic faithful to translate this gesture of the good bishop into an intensified concerted effort to build the broadest possible resistance to this calamitous Supreme Court ruling that will wreak havoc on the lives and livelihood of an estimated 45,000 municipal fisherfolks across 25 coastal towns of Negros Occidental who rely on these waters for their daily sustenance.

Small-scale fishers have long been suffering from extreme poverty and hunger, environmental degradation as consequence of decades of imperialist plunder, overfishing by foreign and local commercial fishing companies and concomitant decreasing fish catch and limited to nil access to social services.

Prior to the the aforementioned ruling, foreign and local commercial fishing have been plundering our seas and incursions on the municipal waters are frequent occurences. The so-called Fisheries Code of the Philippines is inutile to protect and defend the rights and welfare of fisherfolks as it is more tailored to serve foreign and big local fishing businesses.

Foreign fishing companies abound like Ceamsa Asia Inc., Dynamic Aqua Trading Inc., Ecofarm Systems and Resources, Inc., Tropical Fishing Tuna Ventures, Inc., Holaen Marine International Inc., Eco Solar Aquaculture, Inc and many more. In Negros, big commercial fishing vessels of CHL Fishing Industry, Inc., Asia Pacific Allied Fishing Ventures Corp., E&L Fishing Corp. and others roam the sea with impunity.

The problem confronting the fisherfolks lies not only in the laws as clearly demonstrated by 27 years existence of said law. It is rooted in an evil system that catered to the immeasurable greed of the few ruling class that thrive on exploitation and oppression of the poor and disadvantaged classes of society. The current semi-colonial and semi-feudal ruling system is the ultimate cause of people’s suffering and destitute condition.

Thus, the fight to protect the lives and livelihood of small fisherfolks is connected to the broader struggle for national freedom and democracy.

CNL-Northern Negros urges the people, especially the laity and clergy, to launch all forms of struggles to protect our municipal waters from plunder and defend the rights and welfare of our small fisherfolks.

It is a moral obligation of every Christian to defend the cause of the poor, fight for their liberation and crush the oppressors.

Revolutionary Christians in Northern Negros will continue to partake and support the people’s war being waged by the New People’s Army (NPA) under the absolute leadership of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

Only by revolution can a truly just and humane society be established that will bring prosperity to the people and herald righteousness.