More viable Seafood Processing Plant seen
THE changing of the guard in Dagupan City is considered a boon to the Dagupan Seafood Processing Plant, which was the subject of a long ownership row between the city government and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).
Dr. Westly Rosario, chief of the National Integrated Fisheries Technology Development Center (NIFTDC) who was appointed interim manager of the processing plant, said with the election of Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez as new mayor effective July 1, he expects things will move better for the processing plant.
Fernandez has always opined that the plant is in better hands with the BFAR and will be able to duly perform its dual mission of helping local exporters and serving as a venue for fishery researches.
Rosario said Mayor-elect Fernandez understands these twin missions of the plant, which she and then Mayor Alipio Fenandez Jr. put up in 2010 through a P100 million grant from the South Korean government.
“With Mayor-elect Fernandez at the helm, we see clearer direction for the processing plant,” Rosario said.
Although the plant is co-owned by the Dagupan city government and BFAR, then Mayor Fernandez wanted the BFAR to handle it until the city government becomes capable of managing it effectively.
He recalled the difficulties imposed by the administration of outgoing Mayor Benjamin Lim when the plant was just constructed and just starting its operations.
“Remember, when we stopped operations when city hall insisted we first secure a business permit?, said Rosario.
Rosario was told by city hall several months later that the facility need not secure a business permit being a government facility.
Lim wanted the city government to take over the management of the facility and later on pass this to a third party that will manage it.
This was rejected even by 4th District Rep. Gina de Venecia whose husband, former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. was responsible for seeking the project funding, saying this would defeat the purpose for which the project was donated.
Rosario noted that the Dagupan Seafood Processing Plant is more modern than the existing fish processing plants in Manila combined.
Currently, fish exporters from Pangasinan and even from Manila are now availing of the facility at nominal fees, said Rosario.
He said he expects more exporters to use the facility once the plant is granted the Hazard Analysis Control Point (HACP) by international governing bodies to ensure that all products coming from the facility can have easy access to the markets in the United States and Europe.
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