P1.3 billion revenue lost due to pork tariff slash —DOF

The national government lost P1.356 billion after the reduction of the tariff rates for imported pork meat, which President Rodrigo Duterte allowed in a series of executive orders.

In a statement, the Department of Finance (DOF) said the Bureau of Customs reported a spike in pork imports to 76 million kilograms from April to early June.

In a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, Customs Commissioner Rey Guerrero said importers brought in 24.45 million kg of pork in April, another 36.5 million kg in May, and 15.14 million kg from June 1 to 11.

Guerrero said April 2021 shipments were 500% more than the April imports last year of 4.07 million kg, while those for May 2021 were 506% higher than the imports in the same month in 2020 of 6.02 million kg, Guerrero said.

“For the period April 9 to June 11, 2021, the BOC posted a total collection of 846.96 million pesos. We estimated the revenue losses from EOs 128 and 134 to have reached P1.356 billion for this period,” Guerrero said.

Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan said the over P1.3 billion in foregone revenue could have been used to fight the African swine fever and support small farmers and entrepreneurs instead.

Dominguez earlier said revenue losses from lower pork import tariffs could reach P11.2 billion this year.

He added that the projected savings of P50.1 billion to be gained by consumers from lower pork prices and "subsequent" easing of inflationary pressures "far outweigh" the state revenue loss from the tariff cuts.

But Pangilinan said consumers have yet to feel the effects of the measure.

"Mataas pa rin ang presyo ng baboy, at nitong huli pati na rin ng isda. The lowering of pork prices was not felt by our people. What is very evident based on government data are the revenues we did not earn because of the slashed import duties," he said.

In early April, Duterte reduced the tariff rates for imported pork meat to 5% to 20% from 30% to 40% for a year under EO 128.

In May, Duterte also issued EO 133 that raised the minimum access volume (MAV) for pork imports to 254,210 metric tons (MT) from 54,210 MT.

He then approved EO 134, which sets tariffs on pork imports under the MAV to 10% for the first three months, and 15% in the next nine months.

The executive orders were aimed at reducing the prices of pork in the market, which soared with the ack of supply after the African swine fever wiped out a number of hog farms in the country.

Hog raisers, however, protested that the entry of imported pork due to the reduced tariff would hurt the local industry.—LDF, GMA News