Malacañang has appealed to pork traders in Metro Manila to reconsider their “pork holiday” protest against the price ceiling on the meat products, assuring them the government aid will be enough for them to survive.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the government hoped the pork retailers would continue to sell their products as it offered transport subsidy and financial aid to local vendors.
“We heard there are two groups that declared a pork holiday. On the part of the retailers, they will not sell products because the price ceiling is too low,” Roque said in a televised press briefing.
The pork holiday was held on the first day of implementation of the price ceiling ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte in response to a request from the Department of Agriculture.
However, the Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines (ProPork) and the United Broilers Association (UBRA) had warned the Department of Agriculture (DA) last year the local meat industry was on the decline owing to unabated importation.
"We had been asking that [meat] importation be removed since the demand is low, that’s why we have our current situation. We had met with (Agriculture) Secretary William Dar last June to ask for help,” said Gregorio San Diego, chairman of UBRA, in a statement Monday.
"Importation and smuggling are what’s causing this crisis,” said Nicanor Briones ng ProPork, noting that the Philippines loses P10 billion yearly in pork smuggling alone.
The agriculture department said Monday it was "building up cases" against those who deliberately pushed up the prices of pork.
“In this chapter of the price ceiling, we are building up cases. We are doing a surveillance,” Dar said in a briefing Monday, but did not say which groups were being monitored.
Duterte's executive order sets a price cap for kasim and pigue at P270 per kilo, P300 for liempo, and P160 for dressed chicken per kilo. The price cap will last for 60 days.
While some pork retailers plan to protest the price cap, the Palace has also backed the proposed consumption of meat alternatives.
“On the part of consumers, they have an advocacy to consume alternative protein sources. We support the advocacy of alternative pork sources,” Roque said.
The cap price was requested by the DA due to soaring pork prices caused by the African Swine Fever (ASF) problem and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The government will source pork from areas not hit by the ASF and pointed out that South Cotabato-based culling groups can supply 10,000 heads of hogs weekly for Metro Manila alone,” he said.
“The government will ship these products and distribute them in the market, so we won’t be short of supply. The price of hog from South Cotabato is around P145 per kilo,” he added.
Also, the government has provided subsidy in the transport cost of hog shipments from other parts of the country.
He said they would provide P21 per kilo for hogs from Mindanao, P15 per kilo from Visayas, and P10 per kilo from those from ASF-free areas in Luzon.
In a related development, President Duterte already approved "in principle" increasing the minimum access volume for pork, the Department of Agriculture said Monday, as the government scrambles to keep prices at manageable levels.
Dar said consultations were ongoing on the proposal to increase the volume of pork that might be imported at lower tariffs, given the low supply amid the outbreak of the ASF in the country.
Dar earlier said the DA was planning to triple the MAV this year to 162,000 metric tons from 54,000 metric tons previously, along with the price ceiling implemented on pork and chicken prices effective February 8, 2021.
Several retailers joined the pork holiday on Monday, as they said the limits set by the government were too low for them to be able to make profits.
The DA earlier blamed the storms and typhoons in the last quarter of 2020 and the ASF outbreak for the recent spike in prices of agricultural goods such as pork and chicken, among others.
Meanwhile, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto urged trade, agriculture, transportation, and police officials to jointly or on their own conduct a “field audit” on transportation issues that delay the movement of food products and make them more expensive.
Among the “road obstructions” that must be removed, Recto said, were the unnecessary “permanent and pop-up checkpoints” run by many local and national agencies.
Addressing “traffic, tong, toll” obstacles, the senator said, would make it easier and less costly for farmers in bringing their produce to market, “at a time when production costs are soaring.”
He said some checkpoints were essential for food safety, like the ones that would stop the transport of meat from hogs contaminated with ASF virus.
“But others flagged down jeeps carrying vegetables to check smoke belching, that’s not needed during this pandemic,” he said, referring to “Clean Air Act” checkpoints run by the DENR and local governments.
The same is true with checkpoints whose sole purpose is to check if a vehicle has the necessary quarantine permits to transport its contents through cities and provinces, he said.
Many food trucks, Recto said, must endure being flagged many times for traffic violations.
He noted there were times when drivers were being fined if plate numbers were just dirty.
“And the problem with apprehensions that occur in different administrative jurisdictions is that a driver who has been given a citation ticket has to settle the fine where it was issued.”.
If government is making it easier for foreign investors to come in, “then why can’t we extend the same ease-of-doing-business courtesy to our very own farmers?” Recto said.
He said a “pandemic-time-only” discount in toll paid by farmers-traders at expressways should be considered “so they won’t be clogging the parallel free public roads.”
At the same time, as retailers and small-scale hog-raisers go on a pork holiday, Senator Francis Pangilinan said the government must address supply to be able to stabilize prices.
“The issue here is supply. Since there is no more pork in Luzon due to African Swine Flu, we need to get them from Visayas and Mindanao,” said Pangilinan.
He cited reports that there was no vendor selling pork in some markets in Metro Manila since their expenses were higher than the price ceiling.
"What does the industry need to recover?" Pangilinan asked.
He cited the need “for a dialogue between those selling pork in the markets and the DA and DTI.”
He said the government should also listen to our hog raisers and vendors.
To address lack of supply and rising prices, the senator committed to continue monitoring the situation, with a possible second hearing of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food.
Pangilinan added profiting off the people’s hunger and misery was wrong and punishable under Republic Act 7581 or the Price Act and urged the government to act as one and implement the law that protects consumers especially during emergency situations like the pandemic.
He said the hearing, which was prompted by his Senate Resolution 618, revealed several gaps in the Executive Department’s implementation of the Price Act.
The Price Act provides consumer protection from runaway, unstable prices of basic goods and services, and prescribes measures against undue price increases, especially during emergency situations.
On Friday, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that Inflation in January accelerated to a two-year high of 4.2 percent from 3.5 percent in December 2020 due to the uptick in food prices and transport costs.
