Though we’re not completely sure why, especially amid soaring prices of staple goods in the country, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr is reportedly “obsessed” with the fact that we now import galunggong, or mackerel scad, which was is known as a “poor man’s fish.”
This seeming fixation led the president to enlist the help of the Indonesian government during his recent state visit to Jakarta, asking them to aid the Philippines fisheries sector and calling galunggong importation situation “unacceptable.”
“I asked for help with our fisheries sector because I am obsessed with the fact that the Philippines imports galunggong. I cannot accept it. I asked for help because they have a strong fisheries sector,” Marcos Jr said in Filipino.
The president said that the assistance from the Indonesian government will happen “in the very short term,” adding that his talks with Indonesian President Joko Widodo had been “more productive than expected,” considering he only spent a day and a half in Indonesia before flying to Singapore.
This is not the first time Marcos Jr has spoken about galunggong. On the campaign trail in March, the then-presidential candidate also expressed disbelief about our need to import galunggong and claimed that it was the easiest fish to raise — a contention that has been disputed by Rappler who reported that the Department of Agriculture has yet to roll out the technology needed to help farm galunggong.
