Republic of the Philippines  
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City 
EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS 
Second Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. ______ 
_________________________________________________________________________________ 
Introduced by 
Representative FRANZ E. ALVAREZ 
_________________________________________________________________________________ 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Pangisdaan Natin Gawing Tama (PaNaGaT) network of NGOs and 
people’s organization reported that for the years 2018, 2019 and 2020, in the common 
periods of January to March, the Visual Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) 
satellite detected a total of 38,803 intrusions of presumably commercial fishing vessels 
using high intensity lights within municipal waters. The recording was only made during 
the nighttime. No data is available for possible intrusions during the daytime. 
Republic Act No. 10654 lapsed into law way back in 2015. It amended the then 
17-year old Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998 that proved wanting in deterring illegal,
unreported and unregulated fishing by imposing stringent regulations and tougher
sanctions.
Intrusion of commercial fishing vessels within municipal waters remain prevalent 
and unabated specially at night. Local government units, with their meager resources to 
patrol and regulate their municipal waters, feel helpless specially with the failure of the 
Department of Agriculture and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources to 
implement the vessel monitoring measures mandate of RA 10654 for commercial 
fishing vessels.  
This regulation would have allowed local government units to react with more 
force in protecting their municipal waters from the entry of commercial fishing vessels 
that places local fishermen at a much disadvantage and deplete resources that would 
have otherwise first benefited the locality. 
This Bill seeks to tilt the balance of this disadvantage in favor of the very people 
dependent on municipal fishing. 
In Palawan alone, the closure of tourism establishments brought about by the 
pandemic sent thousands of workers and individuals dependent on the tourism industry 
back to their hometowns with some returning or transitioning to farming and fishing 
in order to replace their lost income and livelihood. 
April 19, 2021
11:08 am
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Mang Lando is one such person. 
Mang Lando used to fish the municipal waters of El Nido before shifting to 
ferrying tourists going island hopping. After the imposition of the varying levels of 
community quarantine that brought travelers to El Nido down to double digits a day, 
he retrofitted his banca and went back to fishing. But he discovered that all is not the 
same. His domain, and that of his fellow marginal fishermen, do not yield as much as 
before.  
To their dismay, they discovered that while intrusion of commercial fishing 
vessels are very minimal during the daytime, yet these larger and better equipped lantsas, 
basnigs and pangulongs are just idling by the boundary of the municipal waters, presumably 
enjoying the bounty that Mang Lando and his fellows would have otherwise caught inside 
if the larger trappers were not in the vicinity. 
Mang Lando already suspected that the commercial fishing vessels are along the 
boundary so that at night, they could sneak well within the municipal waters where most 
of the reefs and fishes are and catch easy prey. The Joint Task Force Malampaya, a 
composite of military elite patrolling the waters of El Nido proved him right. This 2021 
alone, the Task Force caught at least five intruding commercial fishing vessels. 
This Bill is dedicated to the multitude of municipal fisherfolks dependent on the 
waters that was specifically dedicated by law to them.  
In view of the foregoing, the immediate passage of this Bill is earnestly sought. 
FRANZ E. ALVAREZ 
FRANZ E. ALVAREZ 
DATE: 19.4.2021 
10:26:00 +8’00’’ 


Republic of the Philippines  
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City 
EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS 
Second Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. ______ 
_________________________________________________________________________________ 
Introduced by Representative 
FRANZ E. ALVAREZ 
_________________________________________________________________________________ 
AN ACT TO ENHANCE  PROTECTION TO MUNICIPAL FISHING 
AND ARTISANAL FISHERFOLKS BY ESTABLISHING A TEN (10) 
KILOMETER MUNICIPAL FISHING BUFFER ZONE BEYOND THE 
FIFTEEN (15) KILOMETER MUNICIPAL WATERS AMENDING FOR 
THE PURPOSE SECTIONS 4 AND 18 OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8550 OR 
THE PHILIPPINE FISHERIES CODE OF 1998, AS AMENDED,  
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES 
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled: 
SECTION 1. Section 4 of Republic Act No. 8550, otherwise known as “The Philippine 
Fisheries Code of 1998”, is amended, as follows 
“SEC. 4. Definition of Terms. - As used in this Code, the following terms 
and phrases shall mean as follows: 
1. x x x
x x x 
57. Municipal fishing - refers to fishing within municipal waters OR
WITHIN MUNICIPAL WATERS BUFFER ZONE using fishing
vessels of three (3) gross tons or less, or fishing not requiring the use of
fishing vessels.
58. Municipal waters - include not only streams, lakes, inland bodies of
water and tidal waters within the municipality which are not included
within the protected areas as defined under Republic Act No. 7586 (The
NIPAS Law), public forest, timber lands, forest reserves or fishery
reserves, but also marine waters included between two (2) lines drawn
perpendicular to the general coastline from points where the boundary
lines of the municipality touch the sea at low tide and a third line parallel
with the general coastline including offshore islands and fifteen (15)
kilometers from such coastline. Where two (2) municipalities are so
situated on opposite shores that there is less than thirty (30) kilometers of
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marine waters between them, the third line shall be equally distant from 
opposite shore of the respective municipalities. 
 
58-A. MUNICIPAL WATERS BUFFER ZONE - MARINE 
WATERS INCLUDED BETWEEN TWO (2) LINES DRAWN 
PERPENDICULAR TO THE GENERAL COASTLINE FROM 
POINTS WHERE THE BOUNDARY LINES OF THE 
MUNICIPALITY TOUCH THE SEA AT LOW TIDE AND A 
FOURTH LINE PARALLEL TO THE THIRD LINE THAT 
SERVES AS BOUNDARY OF THE MUNICIPAL WATERS AND 
TEN (10) KILOMETERS FROM SUCH THIRD MUNICIPAL 
WATERS BOUNDARY LINE. 
 
x x x” 
 
SEC. 2. Section 18 of the same Act is hereby amended, as follows: 
 
“SEC. 18. Users of Municipal Waters. - All fishery related activities in 
municipal waters OR IN MUNICIPAL WATERS BUFFER ZONE, 
as defined in this Code, shall be utilized by municipal fisherfolk and their 
cooperatives/organizations who are listed as such in the registry of 
municipal fisherfolk AND SHALL BE LIMITED TO MUNICIPAL 
FISHING. 
 
The DEPARTMENT, WITH THE CONCURRENCE OF THE 
municipal or city government, however, may, through its local chief 
executive and acting pursuant to an appropriate ordinance, authorize or 
permit small [and medium] commercial fishing vessels to operate within 
the [ten point one (10.1) to fifteen (15) kilometer area from the 
shoreline in] municipal waters BUFFER ZONE as defined herein, 
provided, that all the following are met: 
 
(a) no commercial fishing in municipal waters with depth less than seven 
(7) fathoms as certified by the appropriate agency; 
 
(b) fishing activities utilizing methods and gears that are determined to be 
consistent with national policies set by the Department; 
 
(c) prior consultation, through public hearing, with the M/CFARMC has 
been conducted; [and] 
 
(d) the applicant vessel as well as the shipowner, employer, captain and 
crew have been certified by the appropriate agency as not having violated 
this Code, environmental laws and related laws[.]; AND, 
 
(E) THE APPLICANT VESSEL IS EQUIPPED WITH A VESSEL 
MONITORING SYSTEM (VMS) THAT IS CONSISTENTLY 
REPORTING ITS LOCATION PRESCRIBED BY AND 
REGISTERED WITH THE DEPARTMENT. 
 


 
 
In no case shall the authorization or permit mentioned above be granted 
for fishing in bays as determined by the Department to be in an 
environmentally critical condition and during closed season as provided 
for in Sec. 9 of this Code. 
 
SEC. 3. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, executive orders and rules and 
regulations or parts thereof which are inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed or 
modified accordingly. 
 
SEC. 4. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its complete 
publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation. 
 
Approved,