Over a trillion pesos worth of resources may be tapped in the so-called blue economy if measures that properly define Philippine territory are passed into law.
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said the Philippines might not be able to maximize access to maritime resources, especially since these are not clearly defined under laws.
“That’s why we are also including this in the legislative agenda to give our fisherfolks and commercial investors clearer guideline on how to optimize the use of our resources,” Adoracion Navarro, NEDA undersecretary, said in a press conference at the NEDA office in Pasig yesterday.
Navarro is referring to pending bills on Philippine Maritime Zones and on Archipelagic Sea Lanes.
“In the National Land Use Act, we also included certain provisions there on resources in coastal areas and also in rivers and lakes,” Navarro said.
Ernesto Pernia, NEDA secretary, said there is a lot of interest now in the blue economy.
“We need to pay more attention on the blue economy. We have really undertapped, underexploited, underused the value of the blue economy,” Pernia said.
“We have a paper, when I was dean at UP… our estimate was over a trillion pesos could be reaped from tapping the blue economy and that’s even a very conservative estimate,” he added.
Rosemarie Edillon, NEDA undersecretary, said since there is no general declaration of what the Philippine territory is, the country is vulnerable to encroachment by neighboring countries.
Edillon, however, clarified certain territories where there are competing claimants are not part of the measures.
“So we claim that is an encroachment but actually we don’t have it in writing. We don’t have any documents that say this is actually ours. Definitely not part of the contested territories, but it’s actually really ours, but that has to be written, it has to be documented. The bill has been filed at the committee on foreign affairs,” Edillon said.
“This will aid our security cluster in forging cooperation with our neighboring countries regarding the sea lanes. If we are guided by clear boundaries then it’s easier to talk to our neighbors,” Navarro added.
