The secretary of the Department of Agriculture has expressed his misgivings on a move by the House of Representatives and the Senate to create a Department of Fisheries separate from the Bureau of Aquatic Resources (BFAR) at present as one of the bureaus under the DA. He said the creation of the Department of Fisheries is a knee-jerk reaction to a simple problem of a neglected sector. The fisheries sector is an area of special concern of his department according to Piñol, a former provincial Governor of North Cotabato. Retired Philippine coast guard Commodore Eduardo Gongona is one of the DA undersecretaries and concurrently the national director of BFAR.

Jannaral, J. (2016, September 19). Fisheries department 'knee-jerk' reaction. The Manila Times, p. A7.