“THEY will wriggle like fish caught on dry land,” Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said Sunday as he and his running mate, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, warned those involved in illegal fishing.
They vowed to crack down on illegal fishing and promised to go after illegal fishermen in Mindanao to protect its tuna industry.
“To keep the industry vibrant, we must protect our maritime resources,” Duterte said.
“I will enforce a crackdown on illegal fishers, unregulated and unreported fishing, especially from foreign vessels. What the people need are fearless solutions and swift actions.”
Cayetano said that, should they win in this year’s elections, they would ensure safe working conditions and fixed wages for hand-line fishermen.
They would be paid twice the daily minimum wage in the region and receive hazard pay.
“This is on top of the commissions which they will get from their catch,” Cayetano said.
As part of their nationwide tour, Duterte and Cayetano visited General Santos City on Saturday and presented their platform of government before the province’s sectoral leaders.
In a town hall meeting at the city’s plaza, the two said they would push for strategic reforms in the tuna exporting industry, such as a crackdown on illegal fishing and better labor and transport commodities for the Filipinos in the south.
Duterte also reiterated his pledge to wage war on crime and corruption.
He even urged the public to kill him if he failed to stop heinous crimes and illegal drugs within the first six months of his administration if elected president.
“If I succeed, perhaps that would be my greatest contribution to the country but if I fail, kill me,” Duterte said.
He and Cayetano also renewed their commitment to complete the Mindanao Railway System to make it easier to transfer food from Mindanao to other areas.
“You can hope that if the Duterte-Cayetano tandem wins, there will be the Mindanao Railway system, the funds, the authority and the trust of all Filipinos in every region and the so-called equality under the law,” Cayetano said.