Manila, May 5 -- In response to the deepening crisis in the fisheries sector, Dinagat Islands Representative Kaka Bag-ao, along with Akbayan Partylist Reps. Chel Diokno, Perci Cendana, and Dadah Ismula, and Albay 1st District Representative Krisel Lagman, filed a set of landmark bills aimed at securing the rights, livelihoods, and future of Filipino fisherfolk.

"Sa isang bansang napapaligiran ng dagat, hindi dapat ang mangingisda ang pinakamahirap (In a nation surrounded by sea, fisherfolk should not be the poorest). They feed the nation, justice demands that we stand with them," Bag-ao said on Tuesday in a news release.

Despite the Philippines being an archipelago, the fisheries sector contributes only 1.3 percent to 1.5 percent of the...