Members of Pamalakaya stage a seaside protest in Zambales on June 12, 2021, against Chinese incursions in the West Philippine Sea. (File photo from the Twitter account of Pamalakaya)
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was asked by the group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) to certify two bills that would provide assistance to fisherfolks as urgent.
Pamalakaya expressed support for House Bill No. 8007 — the “Pantawid Pambangka Act of 2003 — that would authorize the Department of Agriculture to distribute a P1,000 fuel subsidy each for fisherfolks.
The group also backed the Makabayan bloc bill proposing a P15,000 production subsidy for fisherfolk.
“To avoid fish production and local supplies from further failing, livelihood support from the Marcos administration is needed. Marcos should support and certify as urgent the bills that will give subsidies to poor fisherfolk,” Ronnel Arambulo, the Pamalakaya spokesperson, said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
Arambulo said fisherfolk need help in the light of climate change and the impending El Niño.
“There’s no reason a proposed law will be delayed in Congress as it will offer just support to our fisherfolk who are treated as the poorest sector in the country,” he said.