Even bangus fry we import

Last week I wrote about the plight of onion farmers. This one’s about bangus (milkfish) fry. Yet it’s far from mouth-watering. Victims, too, of unbridled imports are the bangus fry gatherers. You see them in every coast in summer, wading in waist-high water, plowing scissor nets into the surf and collecting their needle-thin catch in worn-out plastic tubs. There are no statistics on how many they are. Some are retired fishermen, too old to venture out into the ocean to haul in jack or tuna that fetch big bucks. Most are in the prime of their lives, but too poor to buy their own boats, let alone nets and hand lines. So they eke out a living with their wives and school-age kids, chasing elusive fry to sell to fishpond owners.

Time was when they netted P1.20 per fry. That was in 1997, but it seems so long ago. These days they’re happy to get 70 centavos per fry. The rate will likely remain at that level in months to come, despite rising costs of living. For they are up against the big boys–a handful of importers of bangus fry from Taiwan and Indonesia who have practically elbowed them out of the trade.

Why the government allows year-round imports of bangus fry, the poor gatherers can only wonder. Perhaps, it’s to bring prices down. Yet the market price of bangus has risen from P60 in 1997 to P80 in recent months. Perhaps it’s to stabilize supply. Yet pond owners must outbid each other for fry at the nurseries that the importers supposedly supply. Or maybe nobody simply cares about them. That’s more likely: even during the peak of the local fry season in May-June, government allows imports. Thus, the poor gatherers fetched only 15-20 centavos per fry last summer, down from the usual 50-60 centavos, when the fry strayed into shallower waters and were thus easier to catch.

Unabated imports are hurting young entrepreneurs as well. Jimmy K. Montalvo, who also sells fry to pond owners by carefully hatching his own, says the importers are driving them out of business. Hatchers like him invest in technology, infrastructure and utilities to mate and fertilize mature bangus, called sabalo. They get little help from government in terms of research and development. Importers armed only with permits, but protected by "free trade," are able to bring in fry with less capital.

Ironically, the fry that the importers bring in are from smuggled Philippine parents. Authorities failed to curb the smuggling of bangus fry out of Manila into Thailand, Taiwan and Indonesia in the ’60s to the ’80s. Governments of those countries invested in R&D to culture the smuggled bangus into egg-layers. It paid off. Taiwan and Indonesia are now selling back hatchlings to a Philippines that never cared much for technological advancements. Thailand now cans bangus for export, and even sells them under Tagalog brandnames in Filipino stores in North America.

As his business bleeds, Montalvo bleeds for the fry catchers. Imports, he suggests, should be allowed only during the lean gathering months of October to February. But when gatherers are at their peak from March to July, they alone should be left to supply nurseries and fish ponds. As for hatcheries, Montalvo concedes that fry imports are inevitable in a regime of free trade dictated by globalization. He envies, though, the onion farmers for whom Senate President Pro Tempore Manuel Villar has taken up the cudgels. Perhaps, Montalvo pines, the senator who prides himself with being once a bangus vendor, can also look into the unfair competition bangus fry suppliers must face from Taiwan and Indonesia.

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Life’s not all that bad. Learn to look at the good side. Things could’ve been uglier, like:

1. Good: Your wife’s pregnant. Bad: It’s triplets. Ugly: You had a vasectomy five years ago.

2. Good: Your wife’s not talking to you. Bad: She wants a divorce. Ugly: She’s a lawyer.

3. Good: Your son is finally maturing. Bad: He’s involved with the woman next door. Ugly: So are you.

4. Good: Your son studies a lot in his room. Bad: You find several porn movies hidden there. Ugly: You’re in them.

5. Good: Your hubby and you agree, no more kids. Bad: You can’t find your birth control pills. Ugly: Your daughter borrowed them. 6. Good: Your husband understands fashion. Bad: He’s a cross-dresser. Ugly: He looks better than you.

7. Good: You give the "birds and bees" talk to your daughter. Bad: She keeps interrupting. Ugly: With corrections.

8. Good: The postman’s early. Bad: He’s wearing fatigues and carrying a shotgun. Ugly: You gave him nothing for Christmas.

9. Good: Your son is dating someone new. Bad: It’s another man. Ugly: He’s your best friend.

10. Good: Daughter got a new job. Bad: As a hooker. Ugly: Her best clients are your coworkers. Way ugly: She makes more money than you do.

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