When you hear or see the phrase “EAT all you can” in Davao del Norte, it is not an advertisement of a restaurant. The letters E, A, T actually stand for Education, Agriculture and Trabaho. EAT embodies Alan “AlDu” Dujali’s platform.
Actually this platform is nothing new for Dujali, except that given the chance and opportunity to serve as governor of Davao del Norte, the three primary program programs which are Education, Agriculture and Trabaho or employment will now be expanded.
We say not new, because during his incumbent term as congressman of the 2nd District of Davao del Norte he has made a lot of legislations that resulted in the delivery of services and projects that not only benefited his constituency in his own District but also of the 1st District of the province . These include roads and bridges, schools and fishery projects.
Let us delve on the fishery project which I found to be most impressive and relevant and a novelty.
Toward the middle of his most recent term as Representative of the 2nd District of Davao del Norte, Congressman Alan Dujali introduced a bill calling for the establishments of fish hatchery for marine and inland fishes in Samal, Carmen and Panabo.
We say that the legislation is a novelty and relevant given today’s threat of shortage of fish supply in the country. In fact the government had allowed the importation of fish a matter which was never done before.
We doff our hats to Congressman Dujali. While he is the champion of infrastructure projects in Davao Region here he is introducing a unique undertaking that would insure the supply of fish in the region.
His hatchery legislation caught the attention of Senators in the upper chamber who sought his permission to amend and co-sponsor the bill to include other regions in the country.
Congressman Dujali had quietly started with a fish hatchery project in Samal Island. In fact it is not just a simple hatchery but the complex includes a marine laboratory, a processing plant which when finished will be one of its kind in the country but maybe in the world!
Why is the hatchery complex extremely important? The hatchery will be able to provide bangus fingerlings and other exotic marine species like, lapu-lapu, maya-maya, pompano to name a few. The project has an initial funding of ₱30-million.
In a recent interview with Congressman Dujali, he proudly explained that Davao del Norte is endowed with rich marine resources which the past administration of Gov. Rodolfo del Rosario had declared Marine conservation areas, also known as marine protected areas (MPAs), intended to protect marine life and their habitats.
Dujali said that given the opportunity to serve as governor he will double the efforts to protect the areas as these will be the primary source of important fish species for the hatchery project.
Dujali envisions Samal fishermen to shift to “fish farming” instead of going out to the open sea where fish population is getting scarce. “The provincial government will assist them financially in putting up fish cages, Dujali assured.
The congressman said the hatchery will employ a number of people not only in the laboratory but also in the processing plant. “But most importantly, our poor fishermen will become little entrepreneurs whose fish production will be processed for domestic consumption and for exportation. ”, Dujali said.
We take cognizance of the exemplary performance of a political personality who is not in the klieg light of so many controversies that plague Congress. Dujali have quietly delivered projects beyond the expectations of his political constituency, a distinction which made him the best choice of varied political persuasions, business and professional groups to challenge the incumbent provincial leadership.
