Dumaguete City Traffic Lights Program- Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino unveils his traffic signalization project in Dumaguete City which aims to improve the traffic condition in the city.
TOL: Congress can amend the law to protect municipal fishers
Including Negros Occidental’s blue crab producers.
Bacolod City — Reelectionist Senator Francis ‘TOL’ Tolentino vowed to push for amendments to the Philippine Fisheries Code (RA 8550) to restore protection for marginal fisherfolk, including the blue crab producers of Negros Occidental, in the country’s municipal waters.
Tolentino made the remark in response to a question from the media about the implications of a recent Supreme Court ruling declaring as unconstitutional the Fisheries Code’s preferential access for municipal fishers within the 15-kilometer municipal water zone.
“I know that BFAR has filed a motion for reconsideration, and we’re waiting for the Supreme Court to issue a ruling that would hopefully remove the access of big vessels to municipal waters.”
“But this does not prevent Congress, including the Senate, from enacting a law clearly specifying that this is municipal waters, and big trawlers and commercial vessels can no longer enter,” asserted the senator, who chairs the Senate Special Committee on Maritime and Admiralty Zones.
He continued: “Let’s wait for the SC’s ruling. If we amend the law, we can help the plight of blue crab producers of EB Magalona.”
Citing data from BFAR and the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI), reports say that the SC decision would have a disastrous impact on blue crab production along Guimaras Strait and the Visayan Sea, of which 55% to 65% is sourced from Negros Occidental.
