By Allan Nawal/Philippine News Agency
BANGKOK – The maritime dispute with China has not greatly affected the Philippine fishing industry as Filipino fishermen continue to catch fish in the West Philippine Sea.
This was what Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez said when asked on Friday what effect does the dispute over the West Philippine Sea has on the Philippine fishing industry.
“I believe our fishermen can still go anywhere where they are allowed to go and they’ve been doing that,” Lopez told reporters here.
He said the factors affecting the fisheries industry, such as low productivity, did not include the dispute. He pointed out the recent El Niño as among these.
Lopez also said the maritime dispute between the Philippines and China has not affected the trade relations between the two countries.
He said in fact, the trade relations were more robust today than in the previous years.
“There’s no impact, because that’s more of political, geopolitical issue, not really economic in nature,” Lopez said, adding that there continued to be a free flow of goods between the two countries.
“There are no restrictions in (the movement) of commercial vessels and transactions (such as) the entry of goods,” he added.
Lopez, meanwhile, said he sees no need to raise the Recto Bank incident during the ASEAN meetings here.
“Offhand, if you will ask me, there is no need because no government was involved in the accident,” he said, adding that private fishermen took center stage in the incident.
“Those are two private groups, not the government. That’s why we should be calm on this,” Lopez added.
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