Around 2,000 live hogs from South Cotabato have been transported to Metro Manila to boost supply and bring down the retail prices of pork products in the country’s metropolis, Malacañang said on Wednesday.
In an announcement aired over state-run PTV-4, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the 2,000 live hogs have arrived in Tondo, Manila and will be brought to different markets in the National Capital Region.
“This is part of measures undertaken to address the shortage of pork supply in Metro Manila so that the prices of pork products will go down, at least to the price cap set by the government,” Roque said.
A day earlier, the Department of Agriculture assured that there will be enough supply of chicken in the market to last until yearend.
Secretary William Dar said “the supply of chicken will last until the end of 2021,” adding that as far as the vegetables are concerned, "we have plenty of them. The storms in November had affected our harvest. We are now recovering. We have enough supplies.”
In a related development, Northern Mindanao has culled nearly 1,500 pigs due to African swine fever, an agriculture official said Wednesday.
Carlene Collado, regional director of the Department of Agriculture in Northern Mindanao, said the disease had affected the livelihood of over 400 backyard hog raisers.
One-third of the affected hogs came from Misamis Oriental. The disease is harmless to humans but is deadly to pigs and there is no vaccine or cure.
Collado said this wouldn't affect the supply it would be sending to Metro Manila, which would come from commercial hog farms.
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) also approved on Jan. 28 the designation of special hog lanes to ensure the unhampered shipment of pork products from Luzon and Mindanao.
The rising food prices in the country amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic also prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to sign Executive Order 124 on Feb. 1 to impose a price cap on selected pork and chicken products in the NCR for 60 days.
EO 124 implements a price ceiling of P270 per kilo for pork kasim and pigue, P300 per kilo for pork liempo, and P160 per kilo for dressed chicken.
Roque said the government would ensure the unhampered shipment of live hogs to Luzon from African swine fever (ASF) free areas.
He added the government would allow the importation of pork products from abroad if the supply remains insufficient.
“The shipment of live hogs to Luzon will continue,” Roque said.
The Department of Agriculture is set to conduct a food security summit with local government units and the private sector to discuss ways on how to ensure food security amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture said the additional hogs delivered to Metro Manila from various provinces outside of the NCR had met the average daily requirement.
“The daily requirement here (Metro Manila) is 4,000 hogs a day, we have already recorded about 4,500 hogs of shipment on February 15,” DA Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said in a virtual presser on Tuesday.
De Mesa, who was recently promoted to the DA central office, said that his former office in Calabarzon (Region 4-A) supplied the most hogs to Metro Manila sharing 49.8 percent of the 4,418 heads of hog in February 15.
Regions of Mimaropa, Western Visayas, Central Luzon, Soccsksargen, Zamboanga Peninsula, Bicol Region, Central Visayas, Northern Mindanao, Cagayan Valley, and Ilocos participated in sending additional hogs to Metro Manila.
DA Secretary Dar mentioned earlier that the hogs supplied by these provinces were surplus or excess hogs.
The agri chief has ordered the DA regional offices to mobilize their respective local hog industries so Metro Manila markets can match the high demand of the consumers.
DA spokesperson Noel Reyes also mentioned during the briefer that the prices in Metro Manila public wet markets have now stabilized due to the influx of hogs from the provinces.
“We can also expect the prices to continue to normalize as several private groups have already committed to ship more hogs in the coming weeks,” Reyes added.
Western Visayas Region sent 20 hog vans containing some 1,600 heads of swine from Iloilo Port to Metro Manila on February 15.
DA Western Visayas provided transport support to the local raisers as among the government’s efforts to allay the soaring prices of pork and by-products because of the African swine fever (ASF) outbreaks.
"We are facilitating the transportation of live hogs to Metro Manila as instructed by Secretary Dar in a memorandum he signed on February 9, and also as a support to the Executive Order 124 of President (Rodrigo) Duterte on the mandated price ceiling in the National Capital Region," DA Regional Executive Director Remelyn Recoter said.
De Mesa also explained that the proposal to increase the minimum access volume of pork importations to the Philippines is a temporary solution to address the low-supply of pork products in Metro Manila.
“The government is authorized to intervene in the problems of the supply chain especially now that we are in a crisis (pandemic,” he said.
This as several private groups have contested the DA Secretary’s proposal for a higher MAV on pork imports to address the low supply of pork products in the NCR market.
Dar’s action was justified by Senator Christopher Go, saying that the average Filipino consumer is already going through enough problems brought by the pandemic.
“They should not be burdened by another concern, this high prices for pork which are considered as a basic commodity,” Go stated.
De Mesa also urged the private sector to compromise and consider the current situation.
“We have to balance the interest of the consumers and the producers. We are protecting the hog raisers but (also) the consumers as well,” de Mesa said.
During the joint hearing of the House committee on agriculture and food and the committee on trade and industry, Dar shared that the proposal to increase the MAV from its current 54,000 metric tons (MT) to 162,000 MT only needs the President’s signature.
“Last (Monday) night, we submitted to Malacanang the resolution by the MAV Management Council, recommending the increase in the MAV for pork for MAV Year 2021 and is now awaiting the President’s signature,” he shared.
“At the same time, the tariff commission is finalizing its report and recommendations to the Cabinet committee on tariff and related matters regarding our separate proposal to further lower tariff for pork for a period of one year,” he added.
Reports have reached the National Meat Inspection Service that more vendors have shifted from selling freshly slaughtered pig to selling imported frozen meat because of the shortage of supply and the recently imposed price cap on pork and chicken.
NMIS National Capital Region Enforcement head Dr. Jude Padasas and representatives from DA went around 2 public markets and a supermarket Tuesday to check the stalls.
Some vendors failed to show a meat inspection certificate, which is given on a daily basis to prove that the animal or pig was disease-free before it was slaughtered.
"All meat vendors must display their MIC. Without MIC, their products will be tagged as hot meat or meat that did not go through inspection. Hot meat is unsafe to eat," Padasas said in Filipino.
The team also issued notices of violation to 6 stalls for mishandling the meat.
Department of Agriculture Administrative Order No. 6 series of 2012 states that “frozen meat shall be sold from display freezers and/or chest freezers that maintain product temperature at a maximum of 0°C or lower."
The order also stated that “chilled meat shall be displayed in supermarkets or other meat markets whole or cut and/or pre-packaged in refrigerated display chillers and/or insulated chest coolers with ice or frozen gel packs, and other similar devices for chilling product.”
The marketing head of one wet market explained that vendors had no choice but to shift to frozen meat since they were not able to secure stable and adequate supply of local pork.
The NMIS gave the stall owners leeway to provide their stalls with freezers and chillers but said by next week the enforcers will start confiscating meat being displayed and sold at room temperature.
Meanwhile, Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce & Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII) President Dr. Henry Lim Bon Liong, said “All sectors should support reforms that promote our
Philippine food security, let us cooperate to help ensure stable food prices as we work for the start of Philippine economic recovery this year.
In a statement, Dr. Lim added: “On pork and chicken prices, we support the positive efforts like Agriculture Secretary William Dar announcing the Department of Agriculture shall offer loans to market vendors and financial aid to hog transporters severely affected by the two-month price cap on pork and chicken products in Metro Manila.
“We also commend the government strategy of allocating P27 billion worth of assistance for commercial hog raisers to help them repopulate in their area.
“The temporary pork supply shortfall is not just here in the Philippines, it is a regional challenge since 2018, so government reforms seeking to boost hog production are very positive steps.”
