BAGUIO CITY, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – Hundreds of thousands of Baguio City residents are threatening to go on a hunger strike beginning on March 1 this year.

March 1 is the start of the implementation of a new city ordinance that prohibits fish vendors from cleaning and scaling the fish that they sell at the Baguio City Public Market.

The ordinance is supposed to address environmental and drainage problems caused by vendors offering this free service to their customers.

Most Baguio residents who rely on fresh fish for their daily meals are not happy and so they are orgnizing a city-wide hunger strike that will last until the city government repeals the new ordinance.

”I’ve never scaled or cleaned fish in my entire life,” says one Baguio resident. “It was so convenient for me that the fish vendors always do it for me.”

“This whole thing smells real fishy,” said another resident who goes to the market everyday to purchase fish for her family’s meals.