Fisherfolk seek guidelines on quarantine

MANILA, Philippines — The fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) is seeking “clear and comprehensive fishing guidelines” in Manila Bay while the government is enforcing a community quarantine in Metro Manila.

Pamalakaya said yesterday the government’s quarantine policy does not indicate how fisherfolk from Cavite and some provinces in Central Luzon would be affected since sea travel in and out of Metro Manila will be prohibited as a measure to curb the spread of COVID-19.

“Our members, most especially in Cavite, are worried that the lockdown includes the prohibition of any fishing activity within Manila Bay. It spells disaster for small fisherfolk in Cavite and Central Luzon as fishing within their respective municipal waters is not enough due to deterioration of marine resources. They have to venture farther to catch more and earn enough,” Pamalakaya chairman Fernando Hicap said in a statement.

Hicap – a resident of Rosario town in Cavite, situated along the coast of Manila Bay – said fisherfolk also fear that they would be prohibited from selling their catch at fish ports in the metropolis.

He warned that if the fisherfolk’s catch would not be sold in Metro Manila, “it would trigger dramatic fall in farmgate prices from its origin that will impact small fishermen. On the retail side in Metro Manila, it will push up prices. We are already warning the government not to implicate the fishing activity in the lockdown as it might undermine the supply and prices of fish in Metro Manila.”

The group said that a militarist approach in the form of a total lockdown would resolve nothing but instead impair the day-to-day lives of the Filipinos.