Senator Panfilo Lacson on Thursday, April 14, questioned the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) why it refused to consider the contraction in pork demand after the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic hit the Philippines.
(SENATE OF THE PHILIPPINES / FILE PHOTO)
Lacson pointed out that the demand for pork meat has gone down after the majority of hotels and restaurants in the National Capital Region (NCR) and other major cities in the country were forced to close since the government imposed strict lockdown measures to curb the pandemic in 2020.
Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua, however, argued that in using the per capita consumption, NEDA still believes that people “will not stop eating pork” and there was only a “shift of location” where they consume pork.
“So we used the P15 per kilo, per person, per year in demand estimate,” Chua told Lacson when asked about NEDA’s computation, at the Senate Committee of the Whole’s hearing on pork imports.
But Lacson opposed the analysis offered by the NEDA chief saying the agency should have considered pre-pandemic demand for pork, first hand, before supporting the move to temporarily increase the minimum access volume (MAV) on pork imports, plus, lower tariff rates for imported pork.
“With due respect Secretary Karl, you should have factored that in. Because my question is how many kilograms of pork are being consumed by hotels and restaurants prior to the pandemic, so we can determine the quantity of the 50 percent contraction on a monthly or yearly basis,” he lamented.
Chua, however, defended NEDA’s decision saying they did not attempt to consider a contraction, believing that Filipinos’ consumption of pork will remain even during the pandemic.
“We did not segregate that, as I mentioned, because people will still eat pork whether they are at home, restaurant or hotel,” Chua reiterated.
“In fact, Mr. President, the mere fact that the prices are so high and even exceeding rice suggests that the shortage is also severe even if we have committed adjustment for the source of eating pork,” he said.
Lacson, however, said NEDA’s assumption “defies logic.”
“It defies logic Mr. Secretary that almost all hotels and restaurants are closed and yet the amount of pork being consumed by the people are the same?” the senator asked.
But Chua answered: “I think there is just a diversion of where they eat pork, that is our assessment sir.”
Also during the hearing, Chua insisted that a temporary increase in pork imports “will not kill the local hog industry.”
The NEDA Secretary assured pork imports will not flood the Philippine markets as other countries are also affected by the African swine fever (ASF) and the fact that there are limited cold chain facilities in the country.
“Hence we think the 404,000 metric tons proposed for importation will only gradually enter the country as needed instead of being imported at the same time contrary to industry concerns," the NEDA official said.