Speech
of
His Excellency Fidel V. Ramos
President of the Philippines
On the Enactment of the Development, Management and Conservation Code for Fisheries and Aquatic Resources; the amendments for the reform and reorganization of the Philippine National Police, and three other reform bills

[Delivered at the Ceremonial Hall, Malacañang, Manila, February 25, 1998]

Ensuring the
continuity of freedom

AT THE CLOSE of the Tenth Congress, let us talk about freedom. It was freedom that our forefathers invoked as they endured great sacrifices in the revolution against Spain and in World War II. It is this same freedom that we begged the Almighty to give us when our people stood before tanks and guns at EDSA 12 years ago.

This very same freedom is what is ensured by the bills we sign into law today, as well as all the other laws that the Tenth Congress has passed. This is the freedom that ensures enduring peace, justice for the oppressed and equal opportunities for advancement for all.

When people are assured of food sufficiency and our fisherfolk are able to improve their lives by increasing their earnings, we help ensure freedom from want. When our fishermen are guaranteed that our waters are protected, that marine life is spared from environmental degradation and that fish poachers are kept away from our shores, there is freedom from fear.

Freedom to fulfill their potentials is the promise we give children who, deprived of their natural parents, can be properly put in the care of carefully chosen adoptive parents. And when provincial students are able to acquire a college education right in their home provinces, they enjoy freedom of choice and freedom to seek better lives. Efficient governance through equitable representation also secures freedom.

Indeed, the improvement of the quality of Filipino life, the insurance that our peace will endure, that justice will be fair and swift, that the disadvantaged sectors are given adequate opportunities for improvement, and that people can exercise their choices without fear are all manifestations of the high quality of our freedom.

We have today five more new laws to secure the freedom of our people by strengthening certain sectors so that by their work, they may fully contribute to the nation’s growth.

Fish sufficiency and food security

Rice and fish being staple Filipino fare, it is our primary concern that (1) our fishery resources are secured to sustain the food needs of this and future generations of Filipinos and that (2) Filipinos are the priority beneficiaries of all activities geared toward the development of our fisheries and other aquatic resources.

Republic Act 8550, or the “The Fisheries Code of 1998,” is the landmark law that will deal with these long-standing concerns. It is a comprehensive prescription of the direction that the nation’s fisheries development must take. It is our primary weapon to avert the uncontrolled exploitation of our marine resources—particularly by non-Filipino fishermen who have been making frequent incursions into our waters—and the increasing degradation of our coastal waters.

Protection for small-scale fishermen

This new law will ensure the rational and sustainable development, management and conservation of our marine resources, including the exclusive economic zone and adjacent high seas. Most important, R.A. 8550 provides continuing protection for small-scale fishermen, whose catch serves local needs, against large-scale fishermen who poach on municipal waters.

As defined in this law, municipal waters comprise the ten-kilometer stretch from the shoreline of a municipality and are the exclusive fishing ground of fishing boats of not more than three gross tons. Our small-scale fishermen are encouraged to band together into local fisherfolk organizations or cooperatives to which the municipality will grant fishing lease agreements.

Moreover, to ensure that our fishermen are informed of their rights as well as the techniques and processes in the proper development, management and conservation of marine resources, integrated fisheries and aquatic resources management councils will be established nationwide. From now on also, fishworkers are to be covered by the Labor Code and the Social Security System.

There is therefore no basis for some alarmist groups to fear that R.A. 8550 allows large-scale fishing boats to encroach on the fisherfolk’s fishing grounds. The law clearly provides that the larger boats may fish only on waters beyond the ten-kilometer reserve of small fishermen, and only upon the grant by the concerned Local Government Unit of a permit to fish.

The assurance of sustainable development in fisheries lies in the granting of fishing license agreements.

Under this law, these agreements—which are issued only to Filipino citizens—are granted in accordance with the computed maximum sustainable yield of the fishing ground, with a bias for resource servicing communities of or adjacent to the municipal waters.

In coordination with the Local Government Units, the integrated fisheries and aquatic resources management councils are responsible not only for formulating regulatory policies and measures toward environmental protection and sustainable use of resources but also for assisting fisherfolk in postharvest and trading activities.

The goal is food sufficiency

In addition, the Fisheries Code transforms the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources of the Department of Agriculture into a line agency and creates the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute as the Bureau’s research arm.

We expect these two agencies and the environment department as a whole to wield these new powers to improve the livelihood opportunities of small-scale fishermen and to attain our national goal of food sufficiency in the fisheries sector.

R.A. 8551, the Philippine National Police (PNP) Reform and Reorganization Act of 1998, is our people’s assurance that our National Police can concentrate on enforcing the law and maintaining peace and order in our communities. It is a major step in the modernization of our police force. This new law returns to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) all counterinsurgency functions, except when the President of the Republic calls on the PNP to support the AFP in combat operations. Our policemen, however, shall continue their information-gathering activities in addition to their regular police functions.

Providing for closer community-police relations

The National Police Commission, in performing its constitutionally mandated functions, is reorganized under R.A. 8551. To ensure the civilian character of our police force, the commission’s board shall have three civilian members besides the Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (who acts as chairman), the director general of the Philippine National Police and one law enforcer. In observance of all our laws toward gender sensitivity, this law ensures that at least one of the commissioners is a woman.

Gender sensitivity and closer coordination with civilians is the underlying reason for providing a woman’s desk in all police stations and the strengthening of the People’s Law Enforcement Board, which will receive citizens’ complaints against PNP officers and members.

To provide for closer community-police relations, the mayor of every municipality or city is authorized to choose the chief of police from a shortlist submitted by the local peace and order council. Smooth relations between the citizens and the police force are promoted so that our policemen will not forget that community support is one of the five pillars of our criminal justice system.

Finally, to sustain the community’s respect for our police force and boost the morale of our policemen, the retirement or separation benefits and the basic pay of National Policemen are increased. Uniformed PNP members are now to enjoy the same salary level as our public-school teachers and nurses, and those assigned in Metro Manila or chartered cities/first-class municipalities may be granted financial incentives by their Local Government units.

The other laws: continuity of reform

Today also, we sign into law R.A. 8552 granting the child adopted by Filipinos the same rights and privileges enjoyed by a legitimate child born to the adopters. In keeping with all the international conventions on children that the Philippines has signed and as a complementary measure of R.A. 8043 regarding transracial adoption, this law specifies the procedures for adopting a Filipino below 18 years of age if offered for adoption or abandoned by his or her parents, and protects the rights of both adopted and adopter. It also allows foreign nationals who have resided in the country for at least three years to adopt a Filipino child.

R.A. 8553 pertains to the number of members of a Provincial Board and amends Section 41(B) of the Local Government Code (R.A. 7160). Under this new law, there must be ten Provincial Board members for first- and second-class provinces; eight members for third- and fourth-class provinces, and six members for fifth- and sixth-class provinces, plus an additional two members in provinces with more than five legislative districts.

This new arrangement rationalizes and democratizes representation in our provincial legislative assemblies and improves local government.

Finally, we are happy to add to our growing number of provincial colleges with the creation of the Carigara College of Fisheries in Carigara, Leyte, out of the Carigara School of Fisheries, under R.A. 8554. We hope that the province of Leyte will enjoy faster growth and take a leading role in fisheries development in our country through this new college.

The continuity of our reforms—political, economic, social, judicial—is the main guarantee that our freedom will be preserved and enhanced. Our next set of leaders must therefore ensure that the laws that have been crafted by the Tenth Congress—including the five laws signed today—are implemented properly and justly as befits a truly democratic society.

Fish be with you

In signing R.A. 8550, or the Fisheries Code, I wish our people: “Fish be with you.” This indicates my desire that every Filipino would enjoy an adequate supply of fish and other basic food nutrients in his diet. And as we sign these other bills into law, I wish Congress and the rest of our people “peace and progress be with us all.” May we forever breathe the air of freedom and may peace and sustained development be the constant companions of the Filipino nation in the 21st century and beyond.