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Christine Avendaño
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines—Saying 2009 could be a “perilous” year, Senator Edgardo Angara said on Wednesday that close to 60,000 Filipinos could lose their jobs abroad, mostly from the United States, due to the global recession.

“If not handled correctly, the financial crisis we see today will become tomorrow’s human crisis,” Angara said in his sponsorship speech for the proposed 2009 appropriations of several government agencies at the resumption of the Senate marathon hearings for the P1.4 trillion national budget for 2009.

Angara said that 590,000 of the 5.1 million overseas Filipino workers were “at risk of losing their jobs.”

These include 129,000 in the US under temporary working visas, particularly those in hotels, casinos as well as agricultural workers; 48,000 seafarers in cruise ships; 268,000 factory workers in South Korea, Taiwan and Macau; 130,000 household service workers in Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, according to the senator, chair of the Senate finance committee.

“Of this number, 50,000 to 100,00 are losing their jobs now,” he said.

Angara said the shifting of the government’s spending priorities in the proposed 2009 budget “sends a clear signal that we are girding for a coming storm.”

The government is targeting its 2009 spending at basic infrastructure, education and health, housing and environment.

The best way to create jobs and stimulate consumption, especially in rural areas, would be through infrastructure spending, Angara said.

He said P177 billion has been allocated for infrastructure projects for 2009, and P54 billion would be spent for direct labor.

Angara said 54,000 Filipinos would get jobs in 2009 for every P100,000-expenditure.

For these projects to start on time, Angara said the Department of Budget and Management gave its commitment to a timely bidding.

“If we fail to do this now, the outcome is stark and simple: we will fall just like Iceland, just like our neighbors in the Asian region,” Angara said. Iceland declared bankruptcy due to the global financial crisis.

Jaime Laude
Philippine Star

Despite the continuing conflict in Mindanao, the local tuna industry continues to flourish in the region, the Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) Program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) reported.

But the bad news is, this development has been overshadowed by the series and the mounting violence in the so-called conflict areas in the region, USAID’s GEM Program liaison officer Nikki Meru said.

Aside from tuna, Meru noted a significant expansion of acquaculture production in the country.

At the 10th National Tuna Congress held in General Santos City recently, Meru noted that aquaculture experts encouraged tuna industry players to diversify into aquaculture as a way of adapting to the decline in global tuna catches amid high fuel costs and increasing international competition.

“Aquaculture production in the country has significantly expanded over the years, with the industry now valued at $750 million,” said Ramon Macaraig, president of the Chamber of Aquaculture and Ancillary Industries in Sarangani.

With the stricter enforcement of tuna management conservation measures resulting in lower catch levels worldwide, increasing domestic aquaculture production can fill in the current supply gap in local and foreign markets and ensure the country’s food security.

“Aquaculture production in Mindanao offers opportunities for growth, with a variety of species available,” Macaraig said, adding that diversification into aquaculture can supplement the incomes of those who at present depend exclusively on the tuna catch.

While it is not yet economically feasible to farm yellowfin tuna and other commercial tuna species, there are high-value marine species with good potential in both domestic and Asia-Pacific markets, including grouper, pampano, mangrove snapper and Asian sea bass.

Macaraeg said China is still the main export market for high-value seafood such as live grouper, snapper, abalone and sea cucumber.

Frozen tilapia, catfish and pampano are selling well in the U.S., while Japan is a major market for shrimps and crustaceans.

The sustainability of aqua­­culture operations depends on the feeding systems used, the acceptability of products in local and foreign markets, and choice of location for operations, Macaraig said.

Gil Adora, assistant director of the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR), said that the investment potential of aquaculture has led to the development of “mariculture parks” in the Philippines.

These promote the expansion of fish production and help provide a livelihood for fishermen that can accelerate socio-economic growth in underdeveloped areas,” Adora said.