MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) on Monday said it is currently reviewing the directive banning the sale of imported frozen salmon and pompano in wet public markets.
BFAR officer-in-charge Demosthenes Escoto disclosed during the Senate committee hearing on agriculture, food, and agrarian reform that they are “engaging everyone” and “opening up the review to a wide range of stakeholders.”
He said an amendment to Fisheries Administrative Order (FAO) No. 195 is possible.
“We are actually engaging everyone, we are opening up the review to a wide range of stakeholders. Included in our review are the importers stated under (FAO No.) 195, [and] other importers. Also included in the review are stakeholders from fisheries sectors, [and] market vendors, and we will also invite owners of supermarkets [and] groceries,” Escoto said in response to Senator Raffy Tulfo’s query on the agency’s action regarding concerns about FAO No. 195.
“In fact, sir, we [already had] two meetings with the market administrators of the NCR (National Capital Region) to also discuss and take their views relative to this particular issue. So we are hoping that we will be able to move forward by next quarter of next year to come up with a more responsive and more efficient regulation on the importation of fish and fisheries products,” he added.
FAO No. 195 was issued in 1999. It is a 22-year-old regulation that was recently enforced and had taken many by surprise.
Pompano. Stock image
Senator Raffy Tulfo also asked the BFAR official why they implemented a “discriminatory” measure. But Escoto replied that he could only guess that the previous BFAR administration may have exercised their quasi-judicial function when they issued FAO No. 195.
“In 1999, we were not yet part of the bureau, but I asked myself why hotels and restaurants were included in the institutional buyers,” Escoto said.
“The only reason I can give myself relative to this is that probably, sir, in the exercise of the quasi-legislative power of the agency because that is also provided for under the Fisheries Code, the agency opted to extend the definition of processing to include hotel and restaurants in a manner that these establishments are offering the imported product to the public in a processed form which is cooked,” he added.
Last November 29, Tulfo delivered a privilege speech questioning FAO No. 195 and calling the directive as “anti-poor” since it prohibits small fish vendors from selling imported frozen salmon and pompano and allegedly favors hotels and restaurants as they we included in the list of institutional buyers like canning industries.
READ: Banning small fish vendors from selling salmon, pompano ‘anti-poor’ — Sen. Tulfo
After Tulfo’s privilege speech, the BFAR announced that imported frozen salmon and pompano would remain available in public wet markets because it halted its operations to enforce FAO No. 195.
“As I have said, there are poor Filipinos who cannot afford to go to the hotels and restaurants because it’s a little bit pricey once these fish are cooked already,” the senator said.
“Because during occasions like birthdays, whatever celebration there may be, they can put these on their tables […] So you’re depriving those people by way [of] requiring permits for the wet market, but not for canning industries and restaurants,” he added.