Balikbayan fish

Because our government has neglected local food industries for so long, we have become an oddity of sorts… an archipelago that imports 90 percent of its salt requirements. That’s not all, the agriculture department has also recently approved the importation of 35,000 metric tons of fish, including galunggong, for sale in the wet markets during this last quarter of the year.

Also quite strange, China, the country that has been blocking our fishermen in our internationally recognized exclusive economic zone, is our number one source of imported fish. Bullying pays!

Senior Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto wonders if we are buying balikbayan fish… fish that really belongs to us that China prevented us from catching, and China is now selling to us. It has been happening for a long while, but Duterte did nothing for our subsistence fishermen.

Recto claims that by value, China is the number one source of our imported fish, accounting for a robust one third (32.92 percent), valued at $247 million or about P12.145 billion in 2021. “By volume, 30.58 percent ang share ng China or 158,088 MT out of the 516,898 MT imported. Ibig sabihin, mula sa inangkat sa China, pwedeng bigyan ng halos tig-1.5 kilos na isda ang bawat Pilipino…

“The Chinese fishing militias help pull off this great ocean robbery by serving the dual purpose of harassing Filipino boats and ships, and by harvesting the bounty of the seas, both done in illegal and dangerous manners.

“Because of this Chinese blockade, share of our fish catch in the WPS, according to BFAR, has dwindled to seven percent of total national fisheries production. Chinese constriction of WPS cripples a pillar of our food security, as that area contributes almost 30 percent of commercial fisheries output…

“Ang tanong: Is this a case of balikbayan fish? Hinuli dito sa atin ng iligal, ngunit ibinenta at ibinalik ng ligal? If true, this is the worst kind of fish migration…”

The worrisome picture, the Batangas lawmaker observed, is that since 2016, volume and value of our fish imports are growing.

“In 2021, import volume jumped 31.48 percent from the previous year. Nagkahalaga ito ng P36.89 billion. Bawat araw P101 milyon na halaga ng isda ang lumanding  sa ating bansa. Sa kwentang ito, hindi pa kasama ang smuggled. Kaya ang ginagawa ng China ay isang malakas na suntok sa ating sikmura. China must be called out for what it is really doing in the WPS: a food blockade that is a crime against humanity.”

According to seafoodsource.com, our seafood sector is expressing concern about an increase in fish imports from China affecting the livelihoods of local fishers.

“The Philippines has imported an average of 20 containers of fish from China weekly over the past month… Association of Fresh Fish Traders of the Philippines president Roderick Santos said the Chinese imports are being sold in the country’s wet markets, competing directly with sales of local fish ...”

Asis Perez, a former BFAR director who is now a convenor of Tugon Kabuhayan, said the Philippines stands to lose 7.2 million kilograms of fish products for every month that Chinese vessels force Filipinos out of WPS: “If we look at even half the market price of this commodity today, then we are bound to lose P720 million a month.”

Perez said if the area is managed well and limited only to Filipinos, it could provide more than the government’s estimate of seven percent volume catch, which is equivalent to P19.1 billion.

A leader of small fishermen said that the presence of Chinese vessels in the WPS contributed to the decline in fisheries production, saying that the income of fishermen fell by 70 percent because of China’s encroachment – from P1,000 to just P300 every fishing trip.

If there is anyone who should understand the problems of Filipino fishermen, it is Francisco “Kiko” Tiu Laurel Jr.,the reported incoming secretary of Agriculture. Tiu Laurel Jr. is said to be considering the President’s offer. He is the CEO of Frabelle, the country’s leading company in the fishery business.

The Frabelle Group of Companies holds diversified business interests that include deep-sea fishing, aquaculture, canning, food manufacturing and processing, food importation and trading, cold storage, shipyard operations, wharf development, real estate development, and power generation. They go beyond Philippine waters and, I understand, they mainly operate in Palau where they even have to pay a daily fee for the right to fish.

Established in 1966 by the parents of Mr. Laurel, Frabelle started as a small trawl fishing company, equipped with just a single secondhand deep-sea trawler that operated solely within Philippine waters. In succeeding years, Frabelle shifted from trawl fishing to purse seining small pelagic fish, eventually moving on to also catch tuna. By 1981, it expanded operations beyond Philippine waters into the Western and Central Pacific regions.

Today, Frabelle has grown to become a world-class fishing company with a fleet of over 100 vessels, and a growing workforce of 5,000. Frabelle is a source for fresh, frozen, and processed seafood, with a market that extends to Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South Africa, and the United States.

So, maybe this appointment is a game-changer for the country. Other than reviving our fisheries industry, the new secretary will provide a fresh perspective to the moribund agriculture department that had failed miserably in its mission to grow the food we need as a nation.

But Pinoys do not live on fish alone. We need lots of rice to go with it. Hopefully, the rice situation is stabilizing now. Farmgate prices for dry palay (unhusked rice) in major trading areas is now between P23/kg in Iloilo to P28/kg in Davao. Traders were ignoring the price cap even before it was lifted last Wednesday. Cancellation of our import orders and very low NFA buffer stock helped bring up buying prices at farmgate.

We are living in interesting times. If Mr. Tiu Laurel accepts, he will give up the independence and peaceful life of a private businessman to get into the topsy turvy world of Philippine politics. Maybe he has big plans in mind that will make the sacrifice worth it.

First things on his agenda: balikbayan fish from China and, of course, the rice crisis.

Boo Chanco’s email address is [email protected]. Follow him on X or Twitter @boochanco