Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. called for the amendment of the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) charter to expand its function to include developing and managing marine and agro-industrial estates across the country to ensure ample food supply. Laurel, who built one of Southeast Asia’s largest fishing companies before joining the Department of Agriculture, said that tweaking the PFDA’s functions dovetails with the Philippine Rural Development Program (PRDP) and President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s goal of modernizing the agriculture sector, which is part of administration’s Bagong Pilipinas key strategies.

Modernizing fisheries: Agri chief eyes marine-agro-industrial estates, logistics master plan to modernize fisheries sector. (2023, November 29). SunStar Davao, p. 9.