MANILA (UCAN): Church and advocacy groups in the Philippines urged the nation’s Supreme Court to not allow commercial fishing within 15 kilometres of the shoreline, reserved as municipal fishing grounds for small-scale fishers.
Some 2.3 million small-scale fishermen are affected by a December 2024 ruling of the court’s First Division upholding a Malabon trial court’s decision to declare the preferential access to small, municipal fishers as “unconstitutional.”
Aaron Pedrosa, a lawyer and secretary-general of Sanlakas, a progressive coalition of marginalised sectors, said they, along with other groups, have filed a petition for intervention in the case and await a decision.
Last year’s court rulings, if implemented, will push fisherfolk “to further misery,” Pedrosa said on February 28.
The trial court’s decision came on a petition filed by a commercial fishing company, challenging the restrictions on municipal waters.
The Department of Agriculture- Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resource filed a petition in January to reconsider the ruling.
“The Supreme Court has yet to rule on the reconsideration petition,” Pedrosa said.
The Supreme Court’s decision will have “far-reaching consequences as it could result in the derogation from legal protections afforded to municipal fisherfolk,” he said.
The integrity of creation is threatened, and our lives and survival, particularly those of the artisanal and municipal fishermen, are challenged
Bishop Alminaza
It will also impact the constitutionally guaranteed powers of local government units on municipal waters in favour of commercial interests, Pedrosa added.
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An official of the Caritas Philippines said the court decision was “deeply troubling, for it runs counter to the guiding principles of our nation.”
The organisation said the 1987 constitution and related national laws affirm the preferential rights of artisanal, small-scale fisherfolk in municipal waters.
“The integrity of creation is threatened, and our lives and survival, particularly those of the artisanal and municipal fishermen, are challenged,” said Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, vice chairperson of Caritas Philippines.
Pablo Virgilio Cardinal David, head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines [CBCP] said: “We call on all sectors—government, civil society, and faith-based organisations—to align with the wisdom of our laws and the values of our faith, ensuring that policies uphold sustainability, empower local governance, and protect the rights of our fisherfolk.”
The CBCP also issued a pastoral statement on February 2 to be read throughout dioceses and parishes across the country.
Small-scale fisherfolk oppose commercial fishing near the shore as they use bigger, motorised vessels that deplete the fish stock by destroying marine habitats and spawning grounds of juvenile fish.
“We only use paddles and a pump boat for fishing and cannot go into deeper waters,” Noralan Pagal, a fisherman from San Remigio, Cebu, explained.
Pagal said the court and the government are torturing the fisherfolk with their ruling and stance on fishing.
“They are slowly killing us, as well as our families,” he added.
