Published: 03 March 2022

As part of the OneDA reform agenda, Department of Agriculture (DA) Undersecretary for Agri-Industrialization and Fisheries Ms. Cheryl Marie Natividad-Caballero and Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) General Manager Atty. Glen A. Pangapalan visited PFDA Regional Fish Ports in Mindanao, as well as some of PFDA’s Mindanao Project Development sites on February 15 to 18, 2022. 

During the visit, the teams of USec. Caballero and GM Pangapalan were joined by officials from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in the region. They toured two Regional Fish Port Complexes in Mindanao to conduct an ocular inspection and look over the progress and ongoing improvement of the PFDA project sites.

The visiting team went to PFDA - General Santos Fish Port Complex (PFDA-GSFPC) where they conducted a walk-thru at all Market Halls and Wharfs 1 and 2 as part of their Mindanao-wide visit to fishery facilities and projects. In addition, they inspected the progress of the ongoing extension of Wharf 2 of the Port and Frabelle Cold Storage.  

In addition, USec. Caballero and GM Pangapalan went to PFDA - Davao Fish Port Complex (PFDA-DFPC). They examined the ongoing rehabilitation Flagship project in the port, which is part of the national government’s Build, Build, Build Program.

Aside from PFDA Regional Fish Ports in Mindanao, the visiting team went to Panabo City, Davao del Norte for the construction of Panabo City Cold Storage and Processing Plant. They also went to Tagum City, Davao del Norte and Mati City, Davao Oriental to talk about the construction of Tagum City Modern Fish Market and the construction of Mati City Municipal Fish Port, respectively.

Afterwards, the team went to Malalag, Davao del Sur to inspect the ongoing construction of Malalag Municipal Fish Port and Hagonoy, Davao del Sur to conduct an ocular visit for a prospective construction project.

After their ocular inspection, the visiting team had a sit-down meeting with the Local Government units (LGU) and industry stakeholders of each area to discuss the project’s implementation phase and to review and address several matters affecting the fishery sector in the region. 

According to USec. Caballero, these improvements in the fisheries sector is part of the budget utilization and completion of big-ticket infrastructure projects like Agri-industrial Business Corridors (ABCs). Additionally, she stated that the PFDA-GSFPC is being upgraded to upscale Philippine exports from Mindanao.

Some infrastructures and measures that the agency will review as part of the improvement of food security and food safety in the region are the construction of processing plants and large-scale fishing vessels for tuna, investment in fry to fingerling production for bangus, shipping of vannamei or whiteleg shrimp to Metro Manila, and a newly built and highly efficient cold storage facility. 

“Abundance is an understatement in making food-fish available and with more private sector investments, organized fisherfolk, strong LGU support, and national government policy for agri-industrialization. The best is yet to come,” USec. Caballero said in a social media post. 

(Mark Angelo Perez – Public Information Division with report and photos from Mr. Paris U. Ayon and Ms. Fritzie V. Leviste – PFDA-GSFPC and Mr. Jude Ambong – PFDA-DFPC)