#Kalbaryo2016 | Fisherfolk agonize in extreme poverty
Manila, Philippines – The fisherfolk on a daily basis are crucified and crowned with thorns. This is the sentiment of the militant fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya-Pilipinas) on the occasion of the Lenten season.
By government account, two out of five fisherfolk are gravely suffering from unconscionable poverty and hunger where eating three times a day is a luxury. This is amidst the archipelago’s abundant marine resources.
Pamalakaya swipes at the Aquino government for the fishers’ misfortunes and miseries. The Aquino administration is the perfect paragon of the cross weighing upon the small fisherfolk and the crown of thorns are the laws and programs imposed that negatively affect the fishers and poor people.
“President Aquino is the record breaking president who sells out our rich fishing waters to private investors for profit taking to the deprivation of millions of fishers in the country. A glaring example is the Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike Project (LLEDP), one of Aquino’s biggest Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects that stands to wipe out the 3.9 million fisher families and poor residents along Laguna de Bay. The project will also put the lake on its final deathblow,” Salvador France, Pamalakaya vice chairperson said.
“We will not forget the despicable treatment this administration has afforded to fisher-victims of super typhoon Yolanda, as if fishers are children of a lesser God,” France continued.
“This is the season for President Aquino and his allies to reflect and do penance for failing in its duty to uplift the lives of fishers from abject poverty. This is the time when the country’s leaders should grasp the real essence of for whom Jesus died in the cross – for the oppressed and the poor,” France concluded. ###
