SONA
Fed up with the lies, fishers vow to have Duterte’s 4th SONA a final one
News Release
July 22, 2019
Fed up with the lies, fishers vow to have Duterte’s 4th SONA a final one
Manila, Philippines – Parading with them a wrecked fishing banca bearing resemblance to the Gem-Ver 1, the fishing boat that was rammed and sank by a Chinese fishing fleet in Recto Bank, hundreds of fisherfolk under the national fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA) on Monday took the streets of Commonwealth Ave. in Quezon City, in time of President Rodrigo Duterte’s 4th State of the Nation Address (SONA).
PAMALAKAYA said the fishing banca symbolized not only the Gem-Ver 1, but the worsening condition of the Filipino fisherfolk under the Duterte administration due to his foreign policies with China that affect the national sovereignty and dignity of the Filipino people.
“In a very serious situation, this is how we describe the socioeconomic condition of the Filipino fisherfolk, which are already the country’s poorest of the poor, under the Duterte administration. President Duterte’s foreign policies with China have intensified the harassment, bullying, and intimidation of Filipino fishers in the West Philippine Sea,” Fernando Hicap, PAMALAKAYA National Chairperson said before tens of thousands from various sectors who attended the United People’s SONA protest today.
PAMALAKAYA condemns killing of fisherfolk leader in Negros Oriental
PAMALAKAYA condemns killing of fisherfolk leader in Negros Oriental
Manila, Philippines – Fisherfolk leader Roberto Tecson was shot dead yesterday in their house in Brgy. Bulado, Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental in front of his children. Tecson was the Chairperson of the municipal chapter of fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA-Pilipinas) in Guihulngan City.
According from the report of human rights group KARAPATAN Negros Island, past 10:00 in the evening yesterday, Tecson was gunned down by 6 riding in tandem wearing bonnets. Also according to his wife Lorna, on July 23, day before the incident happened, members of the Philippine Army under the 79th Infantry Battalion were hunting Roberto, accusing him of transporting armed groups using his pump boat. On July 24, hours before the incident, the military returned to the community and looked for him while his wife the protest rally for President Rodrigo Duterte’s 2nd State of the Nation Address (SONA).
PAMALAKAYA in a statement claimed that Tecson was a legitimate and active member of PAMALAKAYA who led his fellow fisherfolk in the community in the campaign against repressive provisions of the amended Fisheries Code or Republic Act 10654. This includes exorbitant fines and fees, and strict fishing rules imposed among small fisherfolk.
“While President Rodrigo Duterte delivered his state of the nation address, his trigger-happy military forces were following the call of duty to silence and kill the dissents. We strongly condemn this state-perpetrated killing of our fisherfolk leader,” Fernando Hicap, PAMALAKAYA National Chairperson said in a statement.
The group slams President Duterte’s total war declaration against the revolutionary movement which actually targets unarmed and ordinary mass movements and activist leaders.
“This culture of impunity and climate of injustice are prevalent under the Duterte administration who just declared a total war against the Filipino people especially among the ranks of farmers and fishers who resist oppressive government laws and programs and assert their civil rights,”
“The declaration of total war is embedded with heavy deployment of military in the rural communities that always results to grave human rights abuses against ordinary civilians,” Hicap said.
The fisherfolk group said this recent incident strengthens their call for the resumption of the peace talks between the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Duterte government to attain lasting peace that is based on justice.
“We demand justice for our slain fisherfolk leader. We want justice for all the victims of political related killings and persecution under this administration,” ended Hicap. ###
Fisherfolk unperturbed with President Duterte’s SONA, slams planned joint exploration with China
Fisherfolk unperturbed with President Duterte’s SONA, slams planned joint
exploration with China
Manila, Philippines — “President Rodrigo Duterte’s state of the nation was filled with hollow and expletive rhetoric, failed to address the plight of the Filipino people,” This was the reaction of the militant fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA-Pilipinas) on the second State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte yesterday.
The fisherfolk group who mobilized hundreds of its fisherfolk members mainly from Southern Tagalog region assailed President Duterte for not making good on his progressive promises before on the fishing sector, particularly the active assertion of our territorial and sovereign rights in the disputed West Philippine Sea.
PAMALAKAYA rejects the joint exploration with China in the West Philippine Sea that President Duterte announced during the press conference conducted at the House of Representatives after his SONA.
“We are dismayed by the softening of President Duterte towards China. We do not want him to exactly do what he promised before on riding a jet ski and stick a Philippine flag in Scarborough Shoal. But everything he promised except making Filipino fisherfolk return to Scarborough Shoal turned into lies,”
Farmers, fishers still hold crown of thorns for being country’s poorest of the poor – PAMALAKAYA
Farmers, fishers still hold crown of thorns for being country’s poorest of the poor –
PAMALAKAYA
Manila, Philippines – The activist fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA-Pilipinas) on Wednesday was unsurprised by the recent poverty survey released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) where the fisherfolk ranks as the second poorest sector in the country, as the group claimed that past and present administrations do not actually address the prevailing poverty among the rural sector.
PSA on June 30 released its 2015 Poverty Statistics for Basic Sectors report, where farmers, fishers and children are identified as the sectors with the highest poverty incidence recorded at 34.3%, 34%, and 31.4% poverty rate, consecutively.
For its part, PAMALAKAYA blames the consistent poverty among the fishing sector on the backward, scattered, and monopolized fishing production which is reflective to the current foreign-dictated economic and foreign policies that are detrimental to the Filipino fisherfolk.
The fisherfolk group also lashes out at the government’s incompetence in protecting marine environment and resources from corporate destruction, mainly from reclamation activities and giant commercial fishing fleets that grab the fishing community and marine resources from small-scale fisherfolk.
“How unfortunate that despite being agriculture-rich and archipelagic country, the rural sector remains underprivileged and poorest,”
“Rampant marine resource grabbing and plunder, conversion of fishing waters into private eco-tourism and beach resorts, and the existing fishing laws that legalize the aforesaid; these are the highlights on why the fishing sector still hold the title of being one of the country’s poorest of the poor. Not to mention the lack of government’s subsidy and support that could uplift the lives of the fishing sector,”
Fisherfolk welcomes President Duterte’s stance against fishpen-takeover in Laguna de Bay
Fisherfolk welcomes President Duterte’s stance against fishpen-takeover in Laguna de
Bay
Manila, Philippines – The militant fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang
Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya-Pilipinas) welcomes President Duterte’s order to dismantle vast tracts of corporate and private fish pens in Laguna de Bay.
The order was made during the President’s 1st State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 25.
“This is what the Laguna lake fishers have long been waiting for; a leader who will address the welfare of the small fishers over big-corporations’ greedy interests. Large portion of Laguna de Bay have been occupied by big fishing and aquaculture companies for decades now.” Roman Antazo, Pamalakaya Secretary General and also a fisherman from Laguna Lake said in a statement.
Pamalakaya said that almost 60 percent of the 94,000-hectare lake has been leased to big fish pen operators by the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) through the Fishpond Lease Agreement (FLA). This is in violation to the law that only allows 10% of the inland waters to be occupied privately. The lion’s share of the lake is being apportioned by a few private individuals and corporations like the Frabelle Fishing Corp. which according to the Laguna lake residents owns fish pens covering a total of 700 hectares.
“Although the LLDA only allows maximum of 50 hectares per fish pen operator, private fishing corporations like Frabelle managed to own more than what is designated by using different dummies and exchanging for big taxes and fat commissions for crooks in power,”
“The corporate takeover of Laguna de Bay left nothing for the small-fisherfolk who have been making livelihood out of its productive fishing water. The once communal fishing grounds for the small fishermen are now enclosed with cages resulting to overcrowding. We have experienced several forms of harassments from the armed fish pens personnel and deprivation from our livelihood when we go near the private fish pens,” Antazo said.
Pamalakaya have been demanding to the past administrations to dismantle and refrain from awarding fishpond lease contracts to big fishing corporations and individuals but it seems that past governments had turned a blind eye on our proposal.
Meanwhile, Pamalakaya call the President’s attention about his plans to transform Laguna de Bay into eco-tourism zone.
“While we welcome the President’s stand against corporate fish pens in Laguna Lake, we won’t allow transforming our traditional fishing grounds into an eco-tourism zone that will put the lives of the fisherfolk in peril. We strongly oppose any plans to convert and transform the lake into other use such as tourist zones because that will also lead to displacement or prohibition of fishers to fish near the declared tourist spots,”
“There are many ways to conserve and preserve Laguna Lake without putting the lives of the fishers and residents at stake. We are open to hold a dialogue with the President and come up with a more holistic and pro-people solutions for the rehabilitation of the dying lake,” Antazo ended. ###
Pamalakaya-Pilipinas 