ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Fishing companies in Western Mindanao have complained against noncompliance by the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s (ARMM) Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) with their 2007 agreement that they will get permits and pay fees only to the national government to avoid duplication of registration and doubling of costs.
The reaction was made following the letters sent by BFAR-ARMM to member firms of the Southern Philippine Deep Sea Fishing Association (Sophil) that they have to secure permits from and pay fees to the BFAR-ARMM office or face sanctions. "It’s an overlapping policy," Sophil President Eugene C. Yap said. "We had already solved this problem... but the BFAR-ARMM no longer honors the agreement."
Alano A. Alihuddin, BFAR-ARMM area supervisor for Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, said his office merely reminded commercial fishers that they still need permits to operate in ARMM’s administrative waters that stretch 22.5 kilometers beyond the 12-km municipal waters of individual provinces.
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