BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Negros Occidental 2nd District Rep. Alfredo Marañon III yesterday said that his committee will give utmost priority on concerns related to food security in response to the challenge issued by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. during his first State Of the Nation Address on July 25.
Marañon was again elected chairman of the House Committee on Aquaculture and Fisheries Resources, a position he first held during the 17th Congress.
“The President was very clear on the road map he laid out in his SONA for the agriculture sector. It calls for all industry stakeholders to take a collective action that will help address global food crisis that threatens societies. And the aquaculture and fisheries sectors are among the major players,” Marañon, who studied marine biology, said.
He also thanked members of the House of Representatives who supported his nomination and election as committee chairman.
We are expected to closely coordinate measures with the DA and its adjunct offices like the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to make sure that the targets set by government to achieve food sufficiency are met,” Marañon said.
Representing the 2nd District of Negros Occidental during the 17th Congress, Marañon championed the protection of the 72,000-hectare area of the Visayan Sea that has been placed under the expanded National Integrated Protected Area System Act, a landmark law mainly authored by the solon’s father, the late Gov. Alfredo Marañon, Jr., who also served as Second District representative.
As Sagay City chief executive, the younger Marañon also placed high priority in enhancing agricultural productivity that included food and livestock production, slaughterhouse modernization, as well as protection of the Carbin and Macahulom Reefs, and Molocaboc and Suyac island villages that are being promoted as the city’s prime eco-tourism and research destinations.*
