Rep. Alfredo Marañon III (Neg. Occ., 2nd District) on Friday, July 29, said his committee will give utmost priority to concerns related to food security in response to the challenge issued by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during his first State of the Nation Address.
Marañon was recently elected chairman of the House Committee on Aquaculture and Fisheries Resources, a position he had previously held.
“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.
Marañon, before serving as Sagay City mayor from 2013-2022, was congressman of the 2nd District of Negros Occidental.
As congressman then, he 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 governor Alfredo Marañon Jr., who also served as 2nd District representative.
“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,” he said.
As Sagay mayor he 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.*