Maambong backs creation of fisheries department

CEBU, Philippines - Provincial Board Member Victor Maambong is supporting the early passage of the proposed legislation on the creation of the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DFAR) as a separate department from the Department of Agriculture (DA).

“It becomes a matter of moral imperative to create a Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources as an agency detached from the Department of Agriculture, with its mission focused on marine and aquatic resources concerns and problems,” he said.

Maambong, who heads the committee on natural resources of the Provincial Board, is filing a resolution that supports the establishing the DFAR because “it will guarantee the protection of our vast and various waters and marine resources.”

If the people accept the proposition that the country depends largely on fisheries and aquatic productivity, Maambong said that there is a pressing and urgent need to enact and implement policies in order to secure its sustainability.

The bill is sponsored by Reps. Dato Arroyo, Luis Villafuerte, Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and Marcelino Teodoro for the creation of said department as a significant step to ensure the preservation and proper development of the nation’s archipelagic waters and marine resources.

The government reorganization panel chaired by Rep. Erico Basilio Fabian , as lead committee, has created a technical working group headed by fisheries and aquatic panel chairman Rep. Alfredo Marañon which is now awaiting the position papers from the Department of Agriculture and other stakeholders as they finalize a substitute bill to be present to plenary.

Arroyo, author of HB 3184 with Romualdez and Reps. Arnulfo Go, Aurelio Gonzales Jr., Roberto Puno and Wilfrido Mark Enverga, said that the creation of the DFAR will be a significant move to ensure the protection of Philippine waters and marine resources and more importantly, the rights of local fisherfolk.

Villafuerte, author of HB 227, said that there is need for a separate department that has the muscle top see to it that laws and rules are followed, corals and other marine resources are protected, develop potential areas for mangroves, aquaculture, mariculture and seaweed parks, and spearhead the country’s competitiveness in the global market.

Teodoro, author of HB 3739, noted that notwithstanding the existence of other agencies attached to the DA and currently performing functions related to marines resources, a centralized agency specifically created to modernize fisheries and marine technology in the country can better discharge said mandate. — Garry B. Lao/WAB (THE FREEMAN)