Pwersa ng Pilipinong Pandagat Partylist Rep. Harold Duterte expressed that the current administration has continued to ignore laying out a concrete plan to ensure that the local food supply in the country was fixed, particularly during a time when the market has experienced market shocks.

“Yesterday, President Marcos jokingly told Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel that he could not yet retire because there is a lot of work to be done. This is true, and it is indeed saddening, but from the perspective of our fisherfolk, the reality is quite the opposite,” Duterte said.

The solon stated that fisherfolk, like many other sectors, were struggling to maintain their livelihoods, highlighting a bigger problem when it came to food production in the Philippines.

With the four years since Marcos took over the executive seat, Duterte said that the only development when it came to the sector was gaining access to the Presidential Assistance for Farmers and Fisherfolk.

“Despite having more than 7,107 islands that we proudly call our own, the number of fish being caught in our waters continues to decline,” he stated.

More than just providing assistance to the fishing community, the lawmaker lamented the trillions he said were lost to the flood control scandal, noting that the amount could have instead been used for initiatives to support the sector.

Duterte said that action on such pressing matters should not simply stop at mere “soundbites” during the SONA and should translate into programs that were actually felt by the community.

He further urged for the government to act on the issue as soon as possible, as individuals are slowly drowning because of the massive challenges.

“I just hope such attention and focus does not come too late when there is no more industry to save,” the solon stated.

Based on a fisheries situation report conducted under the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) from January to March 2026, it was stated that the sector's production had decreased by 15.3 percent, translating to 1.01 million metric tons of fish compared to the same period last year.

The PSA noted that the decline was not proportionately felt in the commercial and the municipal fisheries as there was an increase in commercial fishing production while it was local fishermen that experienced a brunt of the decline.