Fishermen and workers of fish canning factories oppose amended fisheries law

ZAMBOANGA CITY – About 2,000 workers of fish canning factories and fishing vessels staged a rally Monday in front of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) regional office in this city to ask the President not to sign into law a consolidated House and Senate Bill that could close down canning factories and displace thousands of workers.

Jose Suan, national president of the Philippine Integrated Industries Labor Union (PIILU) and vice president of Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), warned that should the bill become law, said bill could render about 30,000 workers in the canning industry, who belong to marginal or poor families, jobless.

Suan appealed to Mr. Aquino to veto the bill amending the Philippine Fisheries Code because “all the fishing companies in the Zamboanga peninsula or Region 9, especially in Zamboanga City, will shut down or be forced to downsize and retrench workers.”

According to him, the companies that will be adversely affected by the amended law will be Universal Canning Inc., Mega Fishing Corporation, Oceanic Fishing Corporation, YL Fishing Corporation, Nancy Fishing Corporation, AMR Trade and Industrial Development Corporation, Century Fishing Corporation, OLC Fishing Corporation, E&L Fishing Enterprise, Zamboanga GMS Fishing Corporation, NCW Fishing Corporation, Jordan Fishing Corporation, Sky Ocean Fishing Corporation, Lourdes Fishing Corporation, OR Fish- ing, AM Fishing, S&M Fishing, Althea Fishing Golden hook Fishing Corporation, Big smile Fishing Corporation, Victory Fishing Corporation, and Walter Fishing Corporation.

House Bill No. 04536 and Senate Bill No. 2414 have been consolidated recently which seek to amend Republic Act (RA) No. 8550, otherwise known as the Philippines Fisheries Code of 1998.

“We support the President. But we were not consulted. We’re willing to sitdown to bring back this matter to the drawing table and to study it deeply by conducting proper consultation with all the affected stakeholders,” said Suan.

Meanwhile, the city government, through the City Legal Office, has prepared its official stand against the proposed amendments to the Fisheries Code that seek to increase the fines for violation of the fisheries law.

Zamboanga City Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco said the consequences of the passage of the new law were explained to her by the officers of the Southern Philippines Deep Sea Fishing Association, Inc. (SOPHIL).

“We are assisting them to review their proposed opposition because we are looking at what legal measures that needs to be done in order to give our canning industry the opportunity to exercise freely their economic activities,” Climaco said.

“We have to prepare our documents in writing and submit it to the President,” she added, stressing that the amendment bill, if signed into law, will affect a lot of people now employed in different fishing canning factories located on the west coast of this city.