WHEREAS, the effect of the recent calamities which befell
the country tended to raise the prices of the basic necessities of life
including the price of fish and fishery/ aquatic products;
WHEREAS, the price of fish, which is the major and cheapest
source of protein in the diet of our people, has escalated to a level
beyond the reach of the great mass of our people due to the destruction
wrought upon fishponds, fishpens and fish nurseries by the recent
typhoons and floods;
WHEREAS, unless measures are taken immediately and
decisively to bring the price of fish fry and fingerlings to reasonable
levels, the price of fish will continue to be high and beyond what our
people can afford;
WHEREAS, the price of "bangus" fry and fingerlings have,
recently and on several occasions in the past, risen to unreasonable
level due to monopolistic and speculative practices of certain sectors
of the industry;
WHEREAS, notwithstanding the high cost of "bangus" fry, the
gatherers thereof have not received their just and proportionate share
in the increment, because they have remained miserably paid for their
labor — the entire increment going, at it has always gone before, to the
concessionaires and middlemen; and
WHEREAS, it is the declared policy of the Government in the
New Society to spread the benefits accruing to any industry to all the
sectors thereof to hasten the narrowing of the gap between the rich and
the poor;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the
Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution,
hereby amend Presidential Decree No. 43 by adding the following
subparagraph to paragraph B, section 6 thereof:
"19. PRESCRIBE AND COLLECT FEES FOR THE ISSUANCE OF LICENSES OR
PERMITS, WITH OR WITHOUT A DEFINITE AREA OF COVERAGE, GRANTING FISHERY
PRIVILEGES SUCH AS CULTURING, CAPTURE OR GATHERING OF FISH OR FRY AND
FINGERLINGS OF ANY SPECIE OF FISH, OR FISHERY/AQUATIC PRODUCTS: PROVIDED,
THAT, WHEN DUE TO DESTRUCTION WROUGHT UPON FISHPONDS, FISHPENS OR FISH
NURSERIES, BY TYPHOONS, FLOODS AND OTHER FORTUITOUS EVENTS, OR DUE TO
SPECULATION, MONOPOLISTIC AND OTHER PERNICIOUS PRACTICES WHICH TEND TO
CREATE AN ARTIFICIAL SHORTAGE OF FRY AND/OR FINGERLING, THE SUPPLY OF
FISH AND FISHERY/AQUATIC PRODUCTS CAN REASONABLY BE EXPECTED TO FALL
BELOW THE USUAL DEMAND THEREFOR AND THE PRICE THEREOF, TO INCREASE, THE
SECRETARY, UPON THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE DIRECTOR, IS HEREBY AUTHORIZED
TO FIX A FAIR AND REASONABLE PRICE FOR FRY AND FINGERLING OF ANY SPECIE
OF FISH, AND, IN SO DOING AND WHEN NECESSARY, FIX DIFFERENT PRICE
LEVELS FOR VARIOUS AREAS OR REGIONS TAKING INTO ACCOUNT SUCH VARIABLE
FACTORS AS AVAILABILITY, ACCESSIBILITY TO TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES,
PACKING AND CRATING: PROVIDED, FURTHER, THAT THE PRICE SO FIXED
SHALL GUARANTEE THE GATHERERS OF FRY A JUST AND EQUITABLE RETURN FOR
THEIR LABOR: PROVIDED, FINALLY, THAT ANY ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER OF
SAID SECRETARY FIXING SUCH PRICE SHALL TAKE EFFECT IMMEDIATELY, THE
PROVISION OF ANY LAW TO THE CONTRARY NOTWITHSTANDING."
This Decree shall take effect upon its promulgation.
Done in the City of Manila, this 11th day of September, in the
year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-four.
(Sgd.)
FERDINAND E. MARCOS
President of the Philippines
By the President:
(Sgd.)
ALEJANDRO MELCHOR
Executive Secretary