JAKARTA - President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday said he sought Indonesia’s help to improve the Philippines’ fisheries sector, underscoring that he could not accept the fact that his country needs to import “galunggong.”

The Philippines in 2018 began importing, galunggong (Mackerel scad), which used to be called in the country as the “poor man’s fish”, after the Department of Agriculture said that supply was dwindling.

“Nagpatulong ako sa fisheries kasi obsessed ako doon sa Pilipinas nag-iimport ng galunggong eh. Hindi ko talaga matanggap ‘yan eh,” Marcos told reporters here.

“I asked for help because matibay ang fisheries nila (Indonesia),” he said.

Marcos said he asked Indonesian officials to “exchange delegations” to discuss how the two countries can cooperate to improve the Philippines' fisheries sector.

Marcos has not chosen an Agriculture secretary yet, saying he prefers to oversee and head the department himself.

Meantime, the Philippine president said he received business pledges that would benefit the manufacturing, energy and transportation sectors, but said the amount of investments from Indonesia has yet to be tallied.

“We haven’t done the sums actually. We haven’t put it together, yet but it’s going to be quite significant,” he said.

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