By Emmanuel Canto
After a hiatus, I got a green light from Watchmen Daily Journal HR officer Ms. Iryn Humadas that I can revive my column In-Depth.
As an opinion writer, this will be again my avenue to blend my personal perspective and research to influence, provoke thought and add nuance to public discourse.
Again, thank you Watchmen Daily Journal management for this opportunity.
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For my first article, I’m featuring the plight of the fisherfolks in the Philippines who are economically badly hit by the rising cost of fuel.
Despite being crucial to food security and coastal management, they are often among the poorest sectors.
They are also dealing with dwindling fish stocks, high fuel costs and, the most important one, territorial disputes.
Amid the economic crisis that we are facing now, the fisherfolks are the ones that were badly hit.
In the countryside wherein fishing is the main source of livelihood, we sometimes don’t mind and ignore them as if they were just there every day as a normal scene in the sea.
But have you ever tried talking to them, asking them how they will make ends meet? Whether can they still provide their family with three meals a day and a decent one? And provide for the education of their children to have a better future so that the cycle of being a fisherman will end.
I got a chance to talk to a bunch of fishermen during my last visit to the southern part of Negros Occidental, and I can only hold my long breath about how they can survive in such a predicament.
The high cost of diesel fuel they are using for their motorized bancas in itself is already a burden.
They said that their income plummeted due to rising fuel prices and, to add up to the burden are the diminishing catches making their livelihood hard to maintain.
They risk their lives in the middle of nowhere in the vastness of the ocean, praying and hoping for a bountiful catch.
The issue of climate change is a natural phenomenon that nobody is in control of, and it affects them through rising sea levels and extreme weather events like typhoons.
The fact remains that fisherfolks were among the basic sectors with the highest incidence of poverty and I saw it myself.
Their livelihood can be likened to a game of chance.
It’s a gamble every night whether they can bring home the bacon or suffer in silence and make ways for their family.
They are debt-ridden and no support from the government is in sight.
If our drivers got support, why is it that the government did not consider also supporting fisherfolks?
They are also using fuel for their livelihood. A P5,000 assistance can bring a big impact on their livelihood, according to them.
In addition, in this game of chance, they are betting on their lives every day and the future of their families.
No amount of strategy to catch fish will suffice unless they entrust everything to God.
Good thing to note, one fisherman said before he departs to fish, he always prays to God for guidance and a bountiful catch.
Their heartache always goes to the government, whether local or national.
They end up always to the empty promises of the government, even though there are a bunch of government agencies, like the Philippine Coast Guard, providing food packs and aid in disaster-stricken areas through programs like the Survival and Recovery (SURE) Program.
Despite these interventions, the majority of fisherfolks still struggle to survive.
These programs are all temporary in nature. The government must provide a long-term solution to the predicament of fisherfolks.
A lone voice in the wilderness and the fisherfolks hope that the government will consider them an important sector in our society./WDJ