Pangilinan appeals to Palace: Declare state of calamity now, don’t raise cap on pork imports

Senator Francis Pangilinan on Sunday called on Malacañang to declare a state of calamity now to help hog raisers recover from the effects of African swine fever (ASF) and not allow more pork imports to come in.

Pangilinan made the remark after President Rodrigo Duterte recommended increasing the minimum volume of pork imports to 350,000 metric tons from the current 54,000 metric tons to replenish pork supply affected by the ASF problem.

“Baka mali ang naibigay na impormasyon sa Presidente. Dadapa pa lalo ang ating lokal na pagbababoy pag pinayagan ang mas maraming imported na baboy," Pangilinan said in a statement.

[Perhaps the President was given the wrong information. Allowing more pork imports would further weaken our local pork producers.]

“Sa ngalan ng ating mga magbababoy, nakikiusap po kami na mag-declare ng state of calamity para sa agarang tulong na pondo sa indemnification at dagdag na cash assistance para sa kanila," he added.

[In behalf of our local hog-raisers, we are asking for a declaration of a state of calamity so that funds for indemnification and additional cash assistance may immediately be tapped for them.]

The Senate earlier adopted Senate Resolution 676, which Pangilinan authored, urging the Department of Agriculture (DA) to “recommend to the President to declare a state of national calamity” due to the “severe impact” of the ASF on the hog industry.

The declaration of a state of calamity would allow for the use of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund and Quick Response Fund to supplement the DA efforts address the ASF problem.

The same resolution also expresses the chamber's opposition to the proposed reduction of the tariff rates and the increase in minimum access volume (MAV) of imported pork products.

“Hindi na kailangan pang i-expand ang MAV at/o pababain ang taripa. Pinapayagan ng sistema natin ngayon ang pag-import ng baboy," Pangilinan said.

[There is no need to expand MAV and/or lower the tariff rates. If we want to import pork, our present system allows importers to import pork.]

Citing data that came out during Senate hearings, Pangilinan said that current international price for choice pork cuts like belly (liempo), ham (pigue), and shoulder (kasim) is at $2 per kilo on average.

“Mga P98 per kilo yan. Idagdag mo ang taripa ng 40%, mga P138 per kilo. Idagdag mo pa ang P12 na storage fee, P150 per kilo ang landed cost para sa importer," he said.

[That’s P98 per kilo. Add tariff of 40%, that’s P138 per kilo. Add P12 storage fee and that’s P150 per kilo landed cost for importers.]

“Sa presyong P250 per kilo pa lang sa palengke, tiba-tiba na ang importer. Hindi na kailangang palawigin pa ang MAV. Kita niyo naman, mas malaki pa ang kita ng importer sa local hog-raiser. Any importer can import using the out-quota tariff of 40 percent. There is no quantitative restriction,” he added.

[At P250 kilo at retail, importers already earn a lot. There is no need to expand the MAV. As you can see, imported pork is still very competitive than local price.]

Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines vice president Nicanor Briones previously said the MAV increase will only benefit importers.

“Instead of helping us, they’re helping importers by removing the P20 billion in tariffs," he said in Filipino.

Meanwhile, AGAP party-list, which represents the agriculture sector, also said that around P13.95 billion in revenues would be lost if the DA pushes through with the proposed reduction of tariffs and increasing the MAV allocation on pork imports.

At present, there is a price ceiling of P270 per kilo for kasim and pigue, P300 per kilo for liempo, and P160 per kilo for chicken. — BM, GMA News