DTI to tap Mindoro, Palawan prisoners in fish production

CALAPAN CITY, Philippines – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)  plans to tap the services of prisoners in the production of Pangasius fish, commonly known as cream dory.

In a memorandum, the DTI said the program would benefit those in the penal colonies of Sablayan in Occidental Mindoro and Iwahig in Palawan. 

The DTI said it has presented a proposal to Bureau of Corrections (BuCor),officer-in-charge Rafael Marcos Ragos.

The country’s monthly importation of Pangasius is about 600 metric tons, valued at $1.65 million, mostly from Vietnam.

Ragos urged the DTI to look for investors who could put up the needed facilities, saying BuCor could not afford it.

BuCor has a similar project at the Davao Penal Colony. The agency partnered with the Tagum Agricultural Development Co. in operating a banana plantation in Davao.