Senate Majority Leader Francis ‘Tol’ Tolentino leads the distribution of food packs to disaster affected residents in Naga City. Vllogger Whamos Cruz and the senator’s son, Tagaytay City Councilor Francis Michael ‘Micko’ Tolentino also joined the relief operations in Albay and Camarines Sur over the weekend_
Tolentino presses aquaculture production to boost sardines supply for PH disaster relief, food security
SENATE Majority Leader Francis ‘Tol’ Tolentino on Monday pressed the urgency of developing aquaculture production for tamban (sardines) to ensure the year-round supply of what he called the country’s “most important fish,” especially in times of disasters.
“For three years, I have been pushing the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and Department of Agriculture (DA) to work together to develop aquacultur production for tamban,” Tolentino said in his program ‘Usapang Tol’ on DWIZ. “The budget has been allocated for this program, but we don’t have it until now.”
He noted that while sardines can be considered the “most important fish” for Filipinos, since canned sardines have always been an integral part of the emergency food packs provided to victims of calamities, the country is actually unable to produce the fish species all year round.
In fact, he said that the annual three-month ban on sardine fishing will start on November 15 this year and will resume in February next year.
“If we could boost sardines production through aquaculture, then this will greatly help in ensuring domestic supply, and even bring down the price of this important commodity,” he stressed.
Tolentino reiterated his proposal when asked if he thought additional production hubs for emergency food packs should be put up in more regions in the wake of logistics problems encountered by relief efforts to Typhoon Kristine-devastated areas in Bicol due to damages sustained by bridges and portions along Maharlika Highway.
“We can put up more hubs and warehouses but if we don’t have enough supply of sardines, then what will we give to disaster victims? We have to think long term for disaster relief and food security,” he said.
Tolentino and his team went to different disaster-stricken areas in Bicol over the weekend to distribute relief packs to thousands of affected residents.
The areas visited by Team TOL included Jovellar, Polangui, Libon in Albay and Buhi and Nabua in Camarines Sur, and in Naga City and Milaor, Camarines Sur on November 3.
The senator’s son, Tagaytay City Councilor Francis Michael ‘Micko’ Tolentino joined the relief operations, as well as vlogger Whamos Cruz.
