P15,000 cash aid for 1.1 million fisherfolk pushed

This photo, taken on July 5, 2022, shows workers filling containers with a fishing boat’s catch at a port in Masinloc town, Zambales province, after an expedition in the South China Sea. (Photo by TED ALJIBE / Agence France-Presse)

MANILA, Philippines — Gabriela Women’s party list and the Makabayan bloc sought on Monday a P15,000 cash aid for some 1.1 million fisherfolk affected by the high cost of fuel and massive fish importation.

The groups also filed a proposed resolution urging the national government to uphold the interest and welfare of Filipino fisherfolk amid Beijing’s “aggressive reclamation and plunder” in the West Philippine Sea.

Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas led Monday’s filing of the proposed measures along with ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro and Kabataan party-list Rep. Raoul Danniel Manuel.

House Bill No. 2024 seeks to provide P15,000 each as a production subsidy to small fishermen.

“We need to provide urgent relief to the 1.1 million Filipinos employed in the fisheries and aquaculture sector who are now battered by steep oil prices and the Department of Agriculture’s thrust of massive importation of fish,” Brosas said.

She lamented that while the Philippines is surrounded by water, the fisherfolk who are among the country’s most vulnerable sectors have been neglected.

“Thus, this bill pushes the P15,000 financial support to the country’s 1 million front-line fisherfolk, contributing to the national food security amid the pandemic,” the lawmakers said.

—JEANNETTE I. ANDRADE

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