Former Anakpawis Party-list solon and now national chairperson of the fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas Fernando Hicap urged Navotas City Representative Tobias “Toby” Tiangco to suspend the registration of fishing boats in his city.
Pamalakaya said that the fisherfolk does not need to pay to get their boats registered to contribute to the fish production of the country’s “fishing capital”.
Hicap, a former colleague of Tiangco in the House of Representatives, echoes the sentiments of the Navotas fisherfolk about the registration scheme under the amended Fisheries Code of 1998 or the Republic Act 10654 that poses heavy burden to them who hardly earn enough money for their daily needs due to high cost of fish production and deteriorating marine catch in Manila Bay.
“Like the privilege plates that Congressman Tiangco wants to ban, we also urge him to lift the fishing ordinance in his city requiring municipal fishermen to acquire boat registration number from the local government,” Hicap said in a statement.