Fish imports OK’d despite council’s plea, Senate learns

Sen. Cynthia Villar —Senate file photo

Senators on Thursday questioned the move of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to insist on their plan to import some 60 million kilos of fish from China, despite a contrary recommendation from the multisectoral fishery council.

The lawmakers expressed disgust after finding out from representatives of the National Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council (NFARMC) that they recommended to the DA to deny the request of BFAR for the issuance of certificates of necessity to import (CNI).

“Why are you ignoring NFARMC? Why is it that you always resort to importation whenever a shortage arises? Why do you have this importation mindset?” said Sen. Cynthia Villar, chair of the Senate committee on agriculture, food and agrarian reform during Thursday’s virtual hearing.

The committee is conducting an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the “alarming reports of significant and steady increase in the volume of importation of frozen fish in spite of the country’s vast aquatic resources.”

Nathaniel Añasco, NFARMC member, said the council met on Jan. 13 to tackle the BFAR request, and “unanimously” decided to recommend the non-issuance of CNI.

“Actually we said zero CNI for the first quarter of 2022,” he said.

Sen. Imee Marcos questioned why the DA and BFAR disregarded the NFARMC recommendation, when the law required that any fish importation must be made only upon consultation with the fisheries council.

“According to the minutes of the meeting in 2021 and 2022, the NFARMC really discouraged any importation, and that it was the DA that went against the recommendation of its own highest-level multisectoral advisory body, which is patently against the law,” she said.

Justification to import

Sources told the Inquirer that Agriculture Secretary William Dar issued the CNI for the 60,000 metric tons of fish the day after the NFARMC meeting.

“[Copies of] the resolution may not have even been printed and signed, but the DA already issued the CNI. This shows that there was already a preconceived plan to push through with the importation, and the NFARMC meeting was nothing but a sham,” claimed the source, who requested anonymity for lack of authority to speak on the matter.

The source added that the DA relied on the data culled from a study that was made by a son of an undersecretary, who was hired by the agency as a consultant, that mainly used data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Dar was not present in the hearing but his deputy, Undersecretary Cheryl Marie Natividad-Caballero, defended the DA’s move to import fish.

She said the NFARMC was only recommendatory and that Dar, “with his sound judgment as head of the agency,” supposedly has the final decision.

According to Eduardo Gongona, BFAR director, the decision to import fish was based on an analysis that this was the net volume that the country needed for the first quarter of 2022.

The BFAR chief said that the country’s fish production was adversely affected by the onslaught of Typhoon “Odette” (international name: Rai) in the southern regions.

In 2018, Gongona issued Fisheries Administrative No. 259, which laid down the rules for the importation of frozen fish and other marine products for wet markets during closed- and off-fishing seasons or during the occurrence of calamities.

But Villar refuted Gongona’s statement, saying that Odette did not cause the actual loss of fishes but only the capability of fisherfolk to catch fish.

“Fishes do not disappear during typhoons; they’re just there in the waters, so why do you immediately resort to importation? Why did you not give them assistance that will help them go back to catching fish?” she said.

“In fact, I think you only used Odette as a justification to import,” the senator added.

Annual fishing ban

The DA earlier said importations have been made necessary also by the annual ban on fishing in traditional grounds of local fishermen to allow fish species to spawn and recover.

Three major seas are subjected to a three-month closed fishing season yearly by the BFAR. These are the Northeast Palawan Sea (November to January), Visayan Sea (November to January) and the Zamboanga Peninsula that spans across the East Sulu Sea, Basilan Strait and Sibuguey Bay (December to March). It is during this period that fish prices in wet markets usually shoot up.
Dar earlier said he signed the required import authorization because local supply has yet to normalize from the devastation caused by Odette on many fishing areas late last year. The typhoon’s impact on the farm sector had exceeded P13 billion and the fisheries subsector suffered the most with P3.97 billion in losses.

The BFAR has projected a fish supply shortfall of 119,000 MT in the first quarter, prompting the move to import to keep supply and selling prices in wet markets stable.

“At the end of the day, we take responsibility in terms of ensuring food security,” Dar said then.

gsg