Rosario: Only DA has authority over seafood plant
DON’T ask me.
This was the reply to Dr. Westly Rosario, chief of the National Integrated Fisheries Technology Development Center (NIFTDC), to frequent public statements of Dagupan City Mayor Benjamin Lim that the seafood processing plant be turned over to the city government.
Rosario explained that the turnover of the management of the PH-Korea Seafood Processing Plant to the city government of Dagupan will require the approval of the Department of Agriculture.
“It can only be approved by officials higher than me,” he said.
Rosario was designated to head the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) team assigned to manage and operate the seafood plant for at least five years.
Mayor Lim has been calling for the takeover of the plant’s management by the city government.
Rosario said the Secretary of Department of Agriculture (DA) will have to give his approval to such a move.
The turnover of the facility to the BFAR was made by the previous Dagupan City administration and was accepted by the DA in 2010.
This turnover was acknowledged and supported by the succeeding and current Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala.
The DA has allocated funds for the operation of the facility.
The facility was built on a plot of land made available by the Dagupan City and its construction was funded through a financial grant from the Korean government arranged by former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr.
“Having been tasked with the duty to operate the facility, we are also doing everything we can to improve the fish processing technology of backyard and big-time fish processor who want to earn more,” Rosario said.
He denied that the plant is now a “white elephant”, as Lim alleged, citing its use by fish processors who want to produce products that can meet the strict standards for export.
He said some of the processed products of these processors, he said, have in fact already entered the U.S. market.—LM
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