Zamboanga lockdown endangers sardine canneries

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines — Eleven fish canneries in the city that supply around 85 percent of the canned sardines found in the country’s supermarket shelves and sari-sari stores could shut down as a result of the community quarantine imposed by the city government here as a precaution against the spread of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Businessmen said their workers continued to face hardships in reporting for work as the local government suspended the operation of public transportation in the city.

Because the canneries are engaged in the production of food, these are among the businesses exempted from closure amid the enhanced community quarantine measure that began on Friday, March 20.

However, the heightened containment measure imposed here followed the sealing off of the city to nonresidents beginning on March 16, at which time land, sea and air travel were also suspended.

Transportation woes

Edgar Lim, president of Industrial Group of Zamboanga Inc., said the city’s lockdown is taking a toll on the daily operations of the sardines factories.

“We are operational now, but our problem is the suspension of public transport. If our workers can’t travel anymore, we will be forced to stop operation,” Lim said.

The 11 canneries are located in the city’s west coast, at least 20 kilometers from the main urban center where most of the workers live.

Lim said that in all, the canning factories produced 3 million canned sardines a day.

With its 11 sardine canning plants with an estimated combined annual production worth of P1.5 billion, Zamboanga has been dubbed as the country’s sardine capital.

If these operations are shut down, the entire canning industry would collapse, according to Lim, affecting over 30,000 workers employed in the canneries, tin can factories, fishing fleets, warehouses, and delivery logistics.

William Tiu Lim, chief executive officer of Mega Global, said that almost half of his 400 workers are having a hard time reporting to their plants at Barangay Ayala.

The company provided their workers with buses to ferry them to their respective work locations but they are stalled in the checkpoints with law enforcers preventing their company vehicles to pick up the workers.

Also, their delivery operations are affected by the difficulties in transporting goods to Visayas and Luzon.

Mega Global’s Lim noted that amid the current public health crisis, canned sardines are the first ones people take out from the shelves.

If these conditions continue to prevail in the city, the main cities in the country may experience a shortage of canned sardines, he said.

Appeal

Mega Global, alone, produces 500,000 canned sardines a day.

Among the brands of sardines produced by the canneries here are Mega, Family’s, Century, Ligo, 555, Uni-Pak and Master.

The businessmen are appealing to the city government to iron out their guidelines to provide a smooth travel experience for their workers to the canneries and keep the canning industry humming with activity.

Lim said Mega Global’s products had to be delivered by land where border checkpoints took a lot of time, even days, before they were cleared to deliver the goods.

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