Solon backs DTI on tuna tariff issue

"The discriminatory tariff being imposed by European countries against Philippine tuna exports can kill our tuna industry and severely affect the livelihood of 25,000 fishing families and 7,000 workers in cannery and fish processing plants in General Santos City alone."

South Cotabato Rep. Darlene Antonino-Custodio issued this warning today as she expressed support for the stand of Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II who strongly protested the discrimination being practiced by the European members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) against Philippine tuna exports.

The Mindanao solon said it is utterly unfair for the European Union to subject Philippine tuna exports to a 24-percent tariff while allowing the duty-free entry of similar products from the African and Caribbean countries. The Philippines is the third largest tuna producing country in the world.

Custodio’s warning stems from the fact that most of the country’s tuna exports come from General Santos City, the tuna capital of the Philippines, which is part of her constituency.

Tuna accounts for 25 percent of the 400 metric tons of fish landed daily in General Santos City, Custodio said. This is about 80 percent of the country’s total tuna production valued at $118.4 million last year, according to figures from the National Statistic Office (NSO). This includes, fresh, chilled, frozen, canned, dried and smoked tuna.

Custodio said General Santos supports the raw material requirements of seven out of the country’s 12 canneries, and eight major fish processors in the city alone, providing livelihood to at least 25,000 fishing families and some 7,000 plant workers. "The European Union is making a mockery of the free trade concept, which is the underlying principle behind the establishment of the WTO," Custodio said.

"The preferential treatment that the European Union gives to African and Caribbean tuna is said to be anchored on past colonial ties with these countries. Then, as Secretary Roxas contends, the same treatment should be extended to the Philippines since our country was bonded to Spain for some 350 years. These ties started in the 16th century and ended only after the 1898 Treaty of Paris, when Spain ceded control of the country to the United States," the lady lawmaker recalled.

She said that if the discriminatory treatment on Philippine tuna continues, it could mean the death of the country’s tuna industry, "with dire consequences on the economy not only of General Santos City but indeed, of the whole Socsksargen area." Socsksargen is composed of the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and Sarangani and the city of General Santos.