A fisherfolk organization explained that Malacañang should also extend support for small fishermen who also bear the brunt of high fuel prices. The small fishermen has made this call just the day the Palace announced it would provide subsidies to canning and fishing companies in Mindanao who stopped fishing for a while due to high cost of fuel. These commercial fishermen are on strike and to end this they are asking for the removal of 12-percent Value Added Tax on oil and a P5-per-liter subsidy on oil.
It is said that the Palace is not going well with the leftwing fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) which said that it welcomes the government plan to provide subsidies to their commercial counterparts. The group criticizes President Arroyo for her “insensitivity” to the plight of small fishermen who are also suffering from high cost of petroleum products.
According to the group the government is neglecting the basic needs of small and marginalized Filipino fishermen and treating them like children of lesser God. The small fisherfolk are suffering and they need subsidies and economic relief in era of extreme crisis, claimed the group. Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap added in a press statement that for Malacaang, these small fishermen are nothing and they don’t exist at all. Hicap told that the small fishermen are asking what is right for them.
According to the Pamalakaya leader a list of demands has been sent to President Arroyo and a copy of it also submitted to Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap and Senate President Manuel Villar last month and this month respectively. He said that the soaring fuel prices forced many fishermen to reduce their fishing hours.
