The House of Representatives has committed to establish an inter-agency panel that will address the grievances of Filipino fisherfolk whose livelihood has been adversely affected by Chinese vessels’ blockades in the contested waters of the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr. assured Saturday the House leadership was paying attention to the woes of the Masinloc fishermen during the joint hearing of the House Committees on National Defense and Security and the Special Committee on the West Philippine on Friday, and that the same would be raised to the agencies concerned in the upcoming budget season.

“The budget season is near. We have heard our fisherfolk. So rest assured that we will form an inter-agency (panel) to have an answer to this request and their feelings,” Gonzales said after the hearing.

The joint panel conducted a public hearing in Masinloc, Zambales, amid the heightened tensions between the Philippines and China over the hotly contested WPS that was further intensified with the latter’s new policy authorizing its Coast Guard to detain what it termed as trespassers of its borders, implying the WPS, for a maximum of 60 days without trial.

The regulation, which China is set to enforce on 15 June, came after a Filipino civilian maritime convoy, Atin Ito, successfully delivered food and fuel to fisherfolk at Panatag Shoal in the WPS on 16 May.