CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – An activist fisherfolk alliance said yesterday the proposed fishery pact with Taiwan would grant Taipei’s industrial fishing fleets unlimited access to the country’s ocean waters, including those in the western Philippine seas where thousands of small fishermen from Central Luzon derive livelihood.
“The fishery pact which the Philippine government wants to clinch with Taiwan will put us in an extremely disadvantageous position. It is like serving the country’s marine wealth in silver platter to Taiwanese fishing giants at the expense of the patrimonial, sovereign and territorial rights of nearly 100 million Filipino people,” Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) Vice Chair Salvador France said in a statement.
France said Pres. Aquino should be told that “only a handful of Philippine fishing fleets could explore the country’s ocean waters compared to the vastly improved Taiwanese fishing fleets which regularly poach inside the country’s territorial waters to fish for tuna and other high value marine resources.”
“Taiwan wants unlimited fishing access in the Philippines and that is the real score and the Manila government seems inclined to give in to the request,” he said.
France noted that Aquino’s proposed fishery pact with Taiwan would expand the coverage of the existing Philippine-Taiwan Sea Lane Accord signed during the administration of former Pres. Marcos and was beefed up by an executive order signed by the president’s mother— former Pres. Aquino and former Executive Secretary and now Sen. Franklin Drilon on August 5, 1991.”
France was referring to the late Pres. Cory Aquino’s Executive Order No. 473 entitled the “Establishment of Sea Lanes for the Use of Fishing Vessels in Proceeding to and From Their Fishing Areas in the South Pacific Ocean Subject to Certain Conditions.”
”While what was given by the Cory administration to Taipei was sea passage rights, the same Executive Order had effectively allowed Taiwanese fishing vessels to poach and fish under the cloak of sea passage rights.
Now, the son will try to legitimize this ocean grabbing spree through the forging of a one-sided agreement,” France warned.
He said “the present Aquino administration is likely to approve the request of Taiwan’s Nan Tsan Aurora Ltd. to invest in three different export-oriented projects inside the controversial Aurora Pacific Economic and Free Port (Apeco) Zone in Casiguran, Aurora as a sign of goodwill with Taipei prior to the discussion and eventual approval of fishery cooperation pact.”
Apeco President and CEO Malcolm Sarmiento, Jr. earlier said the Taiwanese agribusiness group Nan Tsan Aurora Ltd., Inc. is engaged in agriculture, mariculture, aquaculture, and fish and agri-processing.
He said the agri-corporation group, the largest in Asia, submitted its proposal through a Letter of Intent by lawyer Johannes Bernabe, the company’s legal representative.
Pamalakaya learned that Nan Tsan plans to engage initially in fish processing as its priority undertaking, for which it will lease a seaside area of 1,000 square meters where it will build and install the required facilities and equipment. This undertaking will kick off starting the second quarter of 2013.
Talks of fishery cooperation came anew after Taiwan and the Philippines pledged not to use force in fishing disputes in reference to the May 9 fatal shooting incident off Balintang Channel that led to the death of a 65-year old Taiwanese fisherman who was allegedly shot by elements of the Philippine Coast Guards (PCG).
The decision was reached during the first preparatory meeting on fishery cooperation between Manila and Taipei foreign officials held in Manila on Friday. The Philippines and Taiwan agreed to avoid a recurrence of incidents such as the death of 65-year-old Hung Shih-cheng, who died after his boat was fired upon by Filipino coast guards while operating in waters near a Philippine island that Taiwan also claims as part of its economic zone.
