Bohol TienDA discredited… 

BFAR assures Zambo 

fish safe for humans 

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, August 31 (PIA)—Not really content with the way the government supplied fish is ruining fast sales, critics of the Bohol Fish Market, went yet into another scheme: spreading dis-information to discourage consumers from buying cheap fish. 

“Usa nako ka suki niingon nga nakabati siya sa radio nga ang isda nga gikan sa Zambonga, nay formalin,” (A buyer said that they heard over the radio that the fish from Zamboanga, have been treated with formalin (formaldehyde), shared a fish vendor whose name we withheld for her protection. 

The vendor owns a stall at the Department of Agriculture’s TienDA, set up at the Agricultural Promotions Center. 

The vendor, one who also doubles up delivering freshly harvested bangus and cultured shrimps and prawn to household patrons, hinted that the well-funded syndicate that has dictated the fish prices here, has again found a new attack to discredit the government efforts. 

“Naturally, I defended and explained that it was a lie, and a disinformation at least,” the vendor who has been in the business of fresh fish trading since 2012 said. 

“Nanggi-awto, lagmi’g sakyanan ang mangadto ug mamalit, kay barato ra gyud,” (People in cars and nice vehicles come to buy there, for the cheap prices), she accordingly assured her buyers that it is safe. 

What the vendor heard from the buyer, could probably be from the fears aired by Metro Manila resident consumers who were also told that importing galunggong from China may not be a wise move. 

Considering the distance from China to Manila, uninformed media and radio commentators leaked about the possibility of formaldehyde treated fish which can be potentially harmful to human beings. 

The assumption, which was also passed on by social media users who never cared to check the facts, helped spread the dis-information which eventually was copied and shared in some social media posts. 

Over the false claims and allegations, BFAR assured that the fish at the TienDA at the APC is safe for human consumption. 

“Ang atong gitinda karon, safe for human consumption gyud ni, free from formalin,” (What we are selling now, is safe for human consumption, free from formadehyde) stresses BFAR Bohol information officer Aurelin Eugenia Mayol. 

Mayol, who is an aqua-culturist at the local BFAR fishery office was among the BFAR staff who oversaw the TienDA fish market to make sure that no vendor puts up prices beyond the agreed P20 overhead for fish of lower quality and P50 for the top class. 

“If there are people who heard of the galunggong (round scad) importation fears, it could have been the source of the fake news that the anduhaw (mackerel) we are selling [from Zamboanga] is the same as the galunggong,” she surmised. 

Mayol also admitted that she has heard similar fears aired by consumers, which they allegedly got from some members of the local media. 

It may also be recalled that right after the DA through Secretary Emmanuel Piñol caused fish suppliers from the nearby regions to flood Bohol markets with fish. 

The DA secretary’s move was aimed to stabilize local prices. 

But Zamboanga suppliers, after delivering the first batch of fish, complained they were not paid by local dealers on their initial deliveries, resulting to suspended deliveries. 

The move [of defaulting from payment] destabilized the government-promised supply, as instead of the promised 14 tons of fish from Zamboanga alone, none arrived. 

Reports surfacing during the Fish Market last August 16 bared that a group of fish dealers withdrew large quantities of fish, but then secretly hoarded them, or brought these to the fish terminal to be sold in apparent overprice from the agreed rates. 

“Despite the clear lack of supply during the second TienDA, the BFAR still managed to bring in fish from our facilities in Calape and the BFAR sourced bangus from Region 10,” BFAR Bohol information officer Aurelin Eugenia Mayol disclosed. 

Probably having failed in disrupting the supply with Bohol BFAR stepping in, they are into another set of demolition, the vendor bared. 

“These group did not pay for the fish they got [from the TienDA], which caused Zamboanga suppliers to suspend their deliveries, and now they spun lies to stop people from buying,” sources from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) who have manned the government fish market accuse. 

“We have fishery laboratories at the BFAR. We assure that the fish we are selling this week, are safe,” the BFAR IO assured people. 

“BFAR fish labs conduct market fish testing and once found out to be unfit for human consumption, these are denied entry to the markets,” Mayol added. 

These fishing vessels from Zamboanga immediately stock in their freezers all caught fish. From the nets, the fish go straight to the stocking room where the boat’s on-board ice maker immediately freezes the fresh fish to death. 

When the fishing boat comes to shore, the frozen fish is transferred to large containers and placed in refrigerated vans for shipment to markets. 

With the two successive attempts at disrupting the government organized fish market, Boholanos who are still hoping to buy cheaper fish are now starting to think that there is indeed a group intending to sabotage the government’s TienDA Bohol Fish Market in Bohol. 

Prior to the TienDA, Bohol has slowly been tagged as a tourism destination with notoriously expensively priced fish. 

Bohol fish markets have discouraged fish consumers from buying for reasons that there has not been any reasonable excuse why fish is priced so high here. 

They claimed Bohol sits on top of the region’s most diverse marine ecosystem and the deep seas are also favorite grounds for whales. (rahc/PIA-7 Bohol) 

BRISK SALES. Despite what observers note as a move by losing opportunistic fish dealers to malign the ongoing Bohol Fish Tienda, the available cheap price of fish here was caused a stream of buyers who know that the government should not allow the sale of contaminated food. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol) 

BFAR information officer Aurelin Eugenia Mayol assures fish consumers that the spun tales that the government-sourced Zamboanga fish has been treated with embalmers are all dis-information. BFAR maintains a fish laboratory and they can determine if the fish has traces of formaldehyde. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)