OLO, Sulu - Rep. Habib Tupay T. Loong (1st District, Sulu) has filed House Bill 2778, calling for the establishment of a Seaweed Development Authority (SDA) in Sulu to oversee the seaweed production and welfare of seaweed farmers in this part of the country. Co-authored by Rep. Nur Anna Sahidulla (2nd District, Sulu), Loong said the bill to be known as the ''Southern Philippines Seaweed Development Authority Act of 2010'' is aimed at protecting the seaweed farmers and organizations in the provinces of Sulu, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, and in the Zamboanga Peninsula. He said the bill also seeks to enhance the income in the seaweed farming, by ensuring equitable access to assets, resources, and services, and promoting value-added processing. The bill also seeks to provide social and economic adjustment measures aimed at increasing productivity and improve market efficiency while ensuring the protection and preservation of the environment and equity for small farmers and fisherfolk, Loong explained. Likewise, the proposed measure will also extend the needed protection to small farmers from unfair competition such as monopolistic and oligopolistic practices, he said.
For her part, Sahidulla said the measure will also promote development that is compatible with the conservation of the ecosystem in areas where seaweed production activities are carried out. Sahidulla said that judicious use of the country's natural resources should also be exercised in order to attain long-term sustainability. She said the bill also ensures that government will exempt seaweed farmers from payment of value added tax (VAT) for purposes of encouraging them to engage further in seaweed production. Loong said that seaweeds farming today is one of the largest and most productive and promising form of livelihood to the people living in the coastal areas of Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, and Basilan provinces, including the Zamboanga Peninsula. The Philippines is one of the top producers of seaweeds in the world, specifically the red seaweed - next to China and Japan, he said.
