MALAPATAN, Sarangani (MindaNews / 5 April) – In the fishing community of Lout in this coastal town, Ustadz Sawali Alab stared at the vast Sarangani Bay – his face expressionless one moment and uneasy the next. But the 61-year-old Islamic preacher looked even more distraught as he shifted his gaze to dozens of bancas (motorized outrigger fishing boats) lining up the black sand coast for about a month now. 

“Istambay na amoang mga bangka pila na ka semana… pirte na ka krisis (Our fishing boats have not gone out to sea for several weeks now. This crisis has been biting us really hard,” Ustadz Alab told MindaNews. 

Some 20 kilometers north of Malapatan, dozens of fishing boats owned by small-scale fisherfolk remain anchored in the waters off Barangay Bula in General Santos City (Gensan), the “Tuna Capital of the Philippines.”

Owners of fishing boats off Bula, like tuna fisherman Harry Bibat, have made sure their boats are anchored firmly on all sides.

The US-Israel attack on Iran on February 28 that triggered a global fuel crisis that in turn caused prices to skyrocket, affecting communities even as faraway as Malapatan and GenSan.  

In the Philippines, oil companies have been raising prices of diesel, gasoline, and kerosene every week since the war in the Middle East started.

Before the war broke out on February 28, prices of diesel and gasoline stood at an average of P60 and P55, respectively, in Region 12 or Soccsksargen, where Sarangani and General Santos City belong.

As of Saturday, April 4, diesel had soared to P120 to P140 per liter and gasoline for P90 to P110 per liter.

Fuel costs doubled 

In the closely-knit Moro community of Ustadz Alab, at least 100 households depend on tuna and other fish catching activities, both in the high seas and within the municipal waters.

Alab owns a “mother fishing boat” powered with two 10-horse power (hp) engines, plus two pakura or smaller outrigger fishing boats, each with a 5-hp engine, used in handline tuna fishing operations.

 
A fisherman for 43 years now, Alab has depended on fishing as his source of income to feed his family and send his six children to school, three of them now teachers while the rest are high school graduates.

Like many of his neighbors, Alab would venture to sea in what they called Sentro, off Balut Island in Sarangani town, Davao Occidental, to catch the prized yellowfin tuna.

Sentro is a rich fishing ground in the boundary with Indonesia’s North Sulawesi province.

He recalled that before the fuel crisis, every fishing trip to Sentro, some four hours away from their community, cost only P20,000, but this has since doubled to P40,000.

“Mahal na kaayo. Dili na makaya (It’s very expensive now. I cannot afford it),” he stressed.

Pukot or bugsay-bugsay fishing

Alab noted that instead of deep-sea fishing, most of the fisherfolk in Lout have resorted to pukot or bugsay-bugsay fishing to eke a living.

Pukot or pamukot is an individual or communal near-the-shore fishing method that involves using nets. Bugsay-bugsay, on the other hand, employs paddling the boat instead of using fuel to reach a fishing ground not far from the coastline.

Marie, wife of a fisherman in Lout, lamented that the current fuel crisis is plunging the poor deeper into poverty.

“Instead of spending for gasoline, we just spend it for rice,” she told MindaNews in Cebuano.

Ronelo Latip, vice chair of the Lout Fisherfolk Association, said some of the fishermen who stopped fishing operations due to the high cost of fuel have sought employment as carpenters, laborers, and are going for other menial jobs to ensure the survival of their families during these very tough times. 

From three meals to two meals a day 

Bibat, a fisherman from Bula in Gensan, was also forced to shift to go on“bugsay-bugsay.” 

For the past weeks, Bibat would paddle his boat about a kilometer away from the shore to catch fish through “pamasol,” or hook-and-line fishing, netting small fish varieties only, unlike in the deep sea where large mature tuna stocks thrive.

“Taas pahulay ron kaysa panginabuhi” (We have more rest now than work),  he shared, as he and his family members gathered under their stilt house with concrete posts, watching dozens of fishing boats that have been anchored not far from the shore.

Bibat owns one of the anchored boats — an outrigger powered by two 16-hp engines.  The boat cannot go to the tuna-rich fishing grounds off Balut Island because of the high cost of fuel. 

“Pigado, tagilid kaayo ron (It’s very difficutlt these days),” he told MindaNews.

The 43-year old Bibat has been fishing since he was 13. Before the fuel crisis, going on a fishing expedition to Balut Island would cost them P6,000. These days, the cost is P12,000.

Bibat said their family is adjusting to the crisis by cutting off on food consumption. From three meals, they now eat only twice a day.  “Pugong kaayo” (We control expenses) he pointed out.

Daghan mapusoy

At the Gensan fish port complex, tuna traders have been also feeling the crunch.

John Heitz, an American expatriate who has been engaged in international trading of fresh mature tuna, observed slower days of fish landing at the complex since the fuel crisis reared its ugly head.

He noted that the skyrocketing prices of fuel have seriously affected fishing expeditions in the high seas, especially the small-scale fisherfolk who could not set out to fish as fuel expenses have doubled.

“Matira ang matibay. Kung madugay pa ni, daghan mapusoy (This is a survival of the fittest. If this will last longer, many will fold up),” he told MindaNews, apparently referring to mid- to large-scale tuna fishing operators.

Heitz, whose main export market is the United States, said exporters are feeling the toll with the increase in freight cost charged by airlines.

“Everybody is really affected by this fuel crisis,” he stressed.

Alab and Bibat said they have yet to receive fuel subsidies from the government.

For Bibat, he would rather not get a subsidy. But he wants government to bring back the prices of fuel – if not to their pre-Middle East war levels – in the P70/liter level.

In Cebuano, he appealed to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr: “Please act decisively. Make fuel products affordable again to the poor. Don’t wait until the masses loot the stores because of hunger.” (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)