Self-sufficiency in fishery products

Title

Creator

Veneracion, Luis P.

Identifier

The economy

Language

English

Source

The Republic (2) 31 March 1973

Year

1973

Subject

Fisheries -- Philippines

Fishery products -- Philippines

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

The ^Economy Self-sufficiency in fishery products The Philippines has a total marine area of about 1.7 million square kilo meters and yet, the supply of fish is insufficient to meet the demand for domestic consumption. The result is a continuous importation of fish prod ucts. In 1971 alone, the country im ported 60 million kilograms of canned fish costing P143 million. Confronted by this problem, Pres ident Marcos issued Decree No. 43, providing steps for the accelerated development of the country’s fishery industry. Salient points of the decree, as explained by Assistant Secretary Rolando S. Estrella of the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, include bigger capitalization for the industry through the opening of more credit facilities, manpower training, and intensification of research. All government-lending institutions, under the presidential decree, are di rected to give priority to fishing proj ects in the granting of loans. The Cen tral Bank has been called upon to fa cilitate the granting of concessionary and preferential rediscount treatment rates of interest to loans involving the industry. On the international level, financing of fishing projects got a shot in the arm with the granting of a $50 million loan to the Development Bank of the Philippines, which will allocate the amount to small and medium-scale ventures in the fishing industry. Also, an $18.5 million project financed by the World Bank is being worked out and expected to be implemented late this year. Over a four-year investment period, the government will provide credit fa cilities to finance the construction of fishing vessels, purchase of fish car riers and equipment, the establish ment of ice-making facilities and slip ways and the improvement of fish ponds all over the country. To ensure the training of manpower for the industry, the Bureau of Fish eries was given P5 million for educa tional and training purposes. The cur riculum of fishery schools will be re vised to require the students to under go on-the-job-training at sea or at the fishponds for one semester. The Philippine Committee on Agri cultural Research has been formed to centralize and coordinate research in the agricultural field, including fishing. In the past, research in fisheries has been fragmented and disorganized. Business prospects in the industry are also provided for in the decree. For a period of from 15 to 25 years, a corporation is allowed to lease 500 hectares of land for fishpond develop ment, and 1,000 hectares if it en gages in canning, whether for domes tic consumption or for export. Another incentive is the lifting of the franchise requirement for the es tablishment of ice and cold storage facilities. According to Director Felix R. Gonzales of the Bureau of Fisheries, the administration has embarked on a four-year expanded fish production program from 1971 to 1974. The overall objective of this program is to so accelerate the pace of fish produc tion as to meet the domestic demand for fish and to develop an export market for the country’s fishery prod ucts. For this year, the target goal for fish products is 83,000 metric tons. Of this amount, 20 percent is expect ed to come from freshwater fisheries, 28 percent from brackish-water fisher ies, 15 percent from municipal fishing and the remaining 37 percent from the catch of commercial fishing ves sels. The Bureau of Fisheries has lined up several projects to bolster the fish production program. These are the Eucheuma (seaweed) culture, the fishpen culture, the fish-estate concept, the settling of “Otoshi-ami” nets in strategic areas, the incorporation of fishery cooperatives and the develop ment of oyster culture in western Pangasinan. Eucheuma is commercially im portant and is in high demand among industrial users. From this algae is taken or extracted “carrageenin,” a valuable substance used in producing ice cream, peanut butter, paints, cos metics, textiles, and rubber products. The fish-pen culture is an intensive method.! of catching fish in lakes and inland seas. This involves the setting up of an enclosure made of bamboo matting or nylon nets. One hectare of this enclosure can produce as much as 60,000 bangus. The fish-net concept calls for the development of modem fishing villages in strategic places in the country. Ba sic infrastructures such as water and flood control systems, basic trans portation system, housing units, schools and health centers will be set up in the proposed project areas. Within these areas will be constructed economic-sized fishponds. Fishermen will be encouraged to form coopera tives to assure them of financing and marketing facilities. a . • “Otoshi-ami” nets are large trap-\. nets weighing 20 tons each and are proposed to replace the “baklad” or fish corrals. These nets could with stand typhoons as they are set in deep er waters where big fish like tuna are available. LUIS P. VENERACION Happy days for the consumer To the layman, there can be no bet ter indicator of good or bad times than the prices of goods he usually buys at the comer store or the nearest market. These days, he has reasons to be happy. He no longer has to dig deep into his pocket to get the things he and his family need. A substantial drop in price levels has been noted in Greater Manila, which in the past suffered acute short ages artificially caused by hoarders, profiteers and other price manipula tors. The reductions have been such that, in many cases, prices are actually low er than the ceilings set by the Price Control Council, according to a survey conducted by the Bureau of Com merce. For instance, certain rice varieties like intan, C-4 and BE-3 are available A metropolitan area grocery store: controlled, low prices. for as low as P2.60, lower than the PCC ceiling of P3. A kilo of sugar sells at five centavos below the maximum allowable price. The same is true for meat and fish. A kilo of first-class beef can be had at P8.50 as against the ceil ing of P9 and fresh bangus at P4.50 as against P5. A pint of edible oil costs five centavos less than that allowed by PCC. Non-perishable goods like construc tion materials are also cheaper these days. One example is a 70-pound roll of barbed wire, which-sells at P55. The PCC ceiling is P62. The arrest of the rise of prices is dramatically reflected in the consumer price index in Manila, which, ac cording to Central Bank figures, soar ed by 14.6 percent in 1971 and drop ped to 10.2 percent by December, 1972. The sharp decline was particularly noted during the three months fol lowing the proclamation of martial law. In October, prices dipped by 3 percent (over September); in Novem ber, 1.3 percent; and in December, 8 percent. For the most essential commodi ty — food items — the decrease in price is particularly heartening. The la test count in January showed a 10.8 percent decrease since September. Stabilization of prices was effected not just in Greater Manila, but in all other parts of the country, according to the Department of Trade and Tour ism. Several factors brought about by martial law finally pulled down the prices to more reasonable levels. One was the strict implementation of the Price Control Law (Republic Act No. 6361), which makes it a “na tional policy to prevent monopoly, hoarding, injurious speculation, mani pulation and profiteering with respect to the supply, distribution and mar keting of prime commodities.” Vio lators were dealt with swiftly and ac cordingly. Unscrupulous traders were detained and their establishments or dered closed. Hoarded stocks, which accounted for the strange shortages before, eventually surfaced and prices began their descent. Improved peace and order condi tions made for easier distribution of goods, further cutting down costs. The Green Revolution project of the First Lady, Mrs. Imelda R. Mar cos, also produced dramatic results in the cities and the countryside, bring ing about savings in the budgets of millions of housewives. In Greater Ma nila, there were instances when truck loads of greens from the provinces had to be returned because of a glut in the market. Another significant factof^ts the government move to control the profits of public-utility companies by lowering or stabilizing the rates of electricity, telephone, and transporta tion. This substantially reduced pro duction costs and, ultimately, the prices of consumer goods. In a move to strengthen price stabil ization efforts, the agencies involved'1* in the implementation of the Price Control Law forged a “memorandum of understanding” aimed at integrat ing their activities. The memorandum was reached between th? national Price Control Council, the military represented by the United Intelligence Group (UIOG) and the Metrocom, and the PCC chapters in Greater Ma nila. The national PCC exercises general supervision and control in the enforce ment of laws and regulations on price control. The price body also maintains stand-by enforcement teams to attend to complaints from the public and ini tiate prosecution of violators. Operatives from the UIOG are working closely with the PCC stand-by teams and Metrocom troop ers with the local PCC enforcement teams. The PCC chapters are to recom mend the deputation of competent of ficials and citizens as price control of ficers who will compose the enforce ment teams in their respective areas. Each chapter maintains an office to receive complaints, effect immediate appropriate action and follow up such action as the need arises. Each also submits to the PCC pe riodic reports of its activities and ac complishments, including’the number of complaints received, cases filed with the fiscal’s office and their sta tus. 31 March 1973 THE REPUBLIC

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