Fishing village survives 'pork' scam

With open arms, fisherman Alejo Gratico and his neighbors welcomed two men from a nongovernment organization (NGO) who arrived in Surigao City in 2008. At last, help finally came to the remote fishing community in Sitio Pag-ayawan in Day-asan village, Gratico thought. “They promised to give us 100 lobster fingerlings. That would fetch some P25,000. They said it was a grant from the BFAR (Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources). All we had to do was to sign documents,” Gratico recalled. Orprecio said that apart from providing a sustainable source of income for fisherfolk, the long-term impact of the project was increasing the production and providing a steady supply of quality aquaculture products, such as lobsters, to the local and export markets.