Sale of imported galunggong illegal — fishers group

ANGELES CITY, Philippines — Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol’s order allowing the sale of imported galunggong (round scad) and other fish in local markets is illegal, a fisherfolk group said yesterday.

Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya (Pamalakaya) cited Fisheries Administrative Order (FAO) No. 195 signed in 1991, which allowed importation of fishery and other aquatic products only for canning and processing purposes, not for direct market sale.

Pamalakaya said the new administrative order issued by Piñol violated FAO No. 195.

“Piñol’s order allows 17,000 metric tons of imported galunggong to enter the country starting Sept. 1 for direct market sale,” Pamalakaya chairman Fernando Hicap said in a statement.

“There is no legal basis for the sale of imported galunggong in local markets because FAO 195 states that institutional buyers, defined as entities or corporations, are only allowed to import fish for final consumption or processing as food requirements for accredited hotels and restaurants, not for distribution to the wet markets.”

“How can Secretary Piñol amend the original administrative order without direct consultation with stakeholders such as fisherfolk organizations and local fish traders?” he added.

The fisherfolk group pointed out that Piñol’s order is also disadvantageous to small fisherfolk and poses hazard to consumers because the imports are most likely preserved with the use of toxic formalin.

Pamalakaya quoted marine experts from the group Advocates of Science and Technology as saying that “it is impossible for round scad to surpass months of frozen storage without introducing them to chemicals to extend shelf life.”

“It has been long proven that any imported agricultural products, including fish, contain formaldehyde that is not safe for human consumption. We challenge both the Department of Agriculture and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources to conduct physical lab testing on the first batch of round scad that arrived in the country last Sept. 1. This is a standard operating procedure that fishery and aquatic products must be subject to lab testing at the time of landing as stated in the Section 11 of the FAO 195,” Hicap said.