Government lacks political will to enforce fishery laws?

Volunteer fisheries patrol officers who are mostly residents of coastal municipalities have complained of the government’s apparent lack of political will to enforce Republic Act 8550 (Fisheries Code), prosecute and penalize those found violating existing laws on marine extraction, conservation and protection.

At the monthly Fish Talk forum, hosted by the Philippine Agricultural Journalists, at the Paseo Restaurant in Quezon City, the guests were unanimous in saying that unless government musters enough political will, Philippine laws and sovereignty will continue to be mocked by fishermen of other countries.

The guests were Mayor Magsaysay Oliveros of Quezon, Quezon; Municipal Agricultural Officer of Quezon, Quezon Benjamin Villaflor; Cesar Galera, head of the legal enforcement of the Fisheries Resources Management Program of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources; Edward Lorenzo of the Environmental Legal Assistant Center (an NGO) and barangay captain Leopoldo Matris, a Bantay Dagat volunteer from Quezon province.

Lorenzo said Congress itself has crafted a very "lopsided" law (RA 8550), which does not provide penalties for violators and does not strictly provide for the safekeeping of evidence against violators; the Philippine National Police — under the Department of Interior and Local Governments — does not deploy law enforcers exclusively for upholding the law and penalizing violators; the justice system often allows the release of evidence — even with some conditions — that more often than not makes a mockery out of the efforts to enforce the Fisheries Code and emboldens the violators in the process.

Lorenzo said the judicial process itself — which takes too long to hear a case and make a decision (often lasting at least five years) — gives the violators "moral rights" to continue violating the laws flagrantly.

The PNP often relies on the financial assistance, if any, given by the local government executives. The cops do not find patrolling the seas a patriotic duty enough to risk their lives, said Mayor Oliveros, in whose town Bantay Dagats are very vigilant in protecting the municipal waters as well as fish sanctuaries and reserves because they have a stake in these resources.

Lorenzo, whose group provides legal assistance to municipal fishermen in Palawan who patrol their shores against foreign poachers, said the lax implementation and inadequate provisions given to enforcement of the Fisheries Code has emboldened "foreign poachers" to fish in Philippine waters using more sophisticated vessels to the detriment of small fishermen.

Galera said he agrees with the observation that prosecution of illegal fishing becomes doubly hard for local executives — and often leads to demoralization for Bantay Dagat volunteers — because the fiscals and court allows the release of evidence, which are the very same instruments being used to commit the same violation in the same area.

Because of this practice — even by the courts — violators are now operating with impunity in committing the same offense over and over again, Galera said.

Villaflor said he is lucky that in his area, Mayor Oliveros gives his all out support to fishery protection, conservation and preservation, which encourages Bantay Dagats under him to work seriously. But this is not the case in other municipalities.

Lorenzo said most commercial fishers, found fishing illegally on municipal waters, ask from fiscals and the courts for the release of their nets — "which are more expensive than the boats/vessels. This same nets (the evidence of a violation) are used by the violators to commit the same offense in the same area."

The guests asked the DILG to beef up the number of policemen in areas which are vigilantly protecting their marine resources and reduce the number of law enforcers which do not care at all about enforcing fishery laws.