The Philippines fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) castigated the Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III related to the fisheries sector during the Empowerment Through Information: Training Program on International and Regional Developments of Relevance to Small-Scale Fisheries and Fishing Communities held in Bangkok, Thailand on January 9-14, 2012.
The conference, sponsored by the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF), aims to provide basic knowledge on how fisherfolk organizations, the fishery NGOs and social movements can utilize existing international instruments to effectively fight threats to fishing rights and livelihoods, and assert fishery rights as human rights.
Pamalakaya national chairperson, Fernando Hicap, berated the PPP projects of President Aquino which, they claimed, had caused tremendous negative impacts on the fishing rights of the Filipino fisherfolk and to the marine environment across the country.
Hicap the told 33 fisherfolk participants from Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India that PPP-driven projects like the Manila Bay Master Development Plan, the Laguna Lake Master Plan, the Aurora Pacific Economic and Free Port zone project (APECO), the magnetite mining project in Ilocos, Bicol and Eastern Visayas regions and the offshore mining projects in Palawan and nearby territorial waters in West Philippine Sea have sacrificed the livelihoods and fishing rights of millions of small-scale fishermen at the altar of corporate greed and global capitalist exploitation.
The PPP of Philippine President Aquino is a current major threat to Filipino fisherfolk. These projects are worthy of Philippine-wide rejection and the object of strong resistance and people’s protest. We ask your support in this fight, the Pamalakaya official announced during the conference.
Pamalakaya said the PPP projects in Manila Bay will displace not less than 100,000 fishing people across Navotas, Paranaque, Las Pinas, all in the National Capital Region (NCR) and coastal towns of Bacoor, Rosario, Tanza, Noveleta and Cavite City in Cavite province once the Philippine government pursues the reclamation projects in these areas to enable the construction of gambling and entertainment centres, large condominiums, and international air and sea ports.
The fisherfolk alliance told ICSF participants that the 54 projects in the 94,000-ha Laguna Lake will displace 3.9 mn fisherfolk and other poor sectors from their main source of livelihood and communities once the government goes full speed ahead with the PPP projects.
Pamalakaya also asked their peers in South, Southeast and Central Asia to support the Filipino fisher people’s opposition to the ongoing widespread magnetite mining and oil and gas exploration activities all over the Philippines. The group cited the 15 service contracts offered by the Aquino government to foreign investors in the United States, the European Union, Australia, Japan and China to explore oil and gas resources in Palawan, in Spratlys and other parts of the archipelago.
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