CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Filipino fisherfolk will bring to the international community their opposition to massive reclamation projects in Manila Bay and the Visayas as they host the first international conference on the impact of globalization on fisheries starting today in Iloilo.
The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said the International Conference on Fisheries and Globalization (ICFG) will be held in Tigbauan, Iloilo from Sept. 19 to 21. Delegates from at least 15 countries started to arrive yesterday.
“Our members from Southern Tagalog, Central Luzon, Bicol, Eastern Visayas, Central Visayas, Negros Island and Panay and Guimaras and Mindanao will ask the support of fisherfolk participants in our campaign against large-scale reclamation in Panay Island and Manila Bay,” said Pamalakaya chair Fernando Hicap.
As of yesterday, at least 70 representatives of fisherfolk organizations and other non-government organizations already registered at the venue, including those from Indonesia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, South Africa, Senegal, Mauritania and Chile
Hicap said “this is an opportunity for us to tell the fisher people of the world about the extreme danger posed by large-scale reclamation to the fisherfolk and people of Panay Island and Manila Bay.”
“We will take this opportunity to rally international support to the fight against large-scale reclamation in Panay, Manila Bay and in other parts of the country,” he stressed.
The Pamalakaya fisherfolk group is part of the event organizing team led by the People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS), Ibon International and the Panay fisheries NGO based Fisheries and Marine Environment Research Institute.
Hicap said Pamalakaya will bring to the attention of the international conference participants the “serious threats posed by large-scale reclamation projects in Leganes, Iloilo that would cover 1,200 hectares of coastal shores, 980 hectares of foreshore areas in Semirara Island in Antique and 200 hectares in Aklan, aside from the 36,234 hectares of coastal areas along Manila Bay.”
Hicap said Pamalakaya “will highlight the cases of reclamation in Panay Island, as well as the P 14-billion Las Piñas-Paranaque reclamation project involving 203.43 hectares of Paranaque coastal territory and 431.71 hectares of Las Pinas territory, which is a major threat to the livelihood of small fisherfolk sourcing their subsistence from Panay Gulf and Manila Bay.”
Pamalakaya also said that apart from flooding problems to be triggered by massive reclamation projects in Panay Island and in Manila Bay, tens of thousands of people would also be dislocated.
Hicap said the Las Pinas-Paranaque Coastal Bay project will directly and indirectly affect 552,660 people in 16 barangays in Paranaque City and 532, 330 residents in Las Piñas City, excluding tens of thousands of fisherfolk and coastal villagers in nearby Bacoor town and neighboring cities of Manila, Navotas, Malabon and coastal towns in Bulacan, Pampanga and Bataan provinces.
