A second wave of the African swine fever (ASF) could hit the Philippines if the government continues the importation of pork products, Senator Risa Hontiveros said on Monday, April 26.
The EO 128 seeks reduce import tariff on pork and increase the minimum access volume (MAV) of imported pork supposedly to address pork shortage due to the ASF.
Some lawmakers, however, fear this could harm the domestic swine industry, as local pig raisers cannot compete with cheap imports.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar, she said, should prepare contingency plans to stop the hog disease from further damaging the country’s domestic livestock.
“Dapat mag-alala at maghanda si Secretary Dar. Kapag itinuloy ang tidal wave ng imports, hindi malabong gaya ng sa COVID-19, magkakaroon din ng second surge ng African Swine Fever sa mga baboy (Secretary Dar should be worried and be prepared. If they continue with a tidal wave of imports, it’s possible that like COVID-19, there could be a second surge of ASF on our swine),” Hontiveros said in a statement.
“Maaaring mas malala pa ito kaysa sa nangyari noong 2020. Baka tuluyan nang ma-wipe out ang ating lokal na industriya dahil pinayagan ang imports pero bigong maitayo ang First Border Inspection facilities (This could be worse than what happened in 2020. This could wipe out our local industry because they allowed the imports but they failed in establishing First Border Inspection facilities),” she said.
Hontiveros noted the DA already has a budget allocation for FBI facilities since 2019 but this has not yet materialized.
“There’s no room for recklessness,” the senator said.
“Kahit na pinapahintulutan ng Executive Order 128 ang pag-iimport, may kapangyarihan ang Department of Agriculture (DA) na hindi mag-issue ng dagdag na import licenses kung sa tingin nito ay labis ang magiging dagok sa ating magbabababoy (Even if the EO 128 has allowed importation, the DA has sufficient authority to stop issuing import licenses if they believe this will be detrimental to our swine producers),” she pointed out.
Hontiveros also said she supports the move of the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) to file a complaint against Secretary Dar over his failure to implement the country’s food safety regulations.
“Karapatan ng SINAG na dumulog sa korte kung sa tingin nito ay nasagasaan ang kanilang karapatan dahil sa hindi pagpapatupad ng batas (SINAG has the right to appeal to the courts if they believe their rights are affected because the government is not implementing the law),” she said.
“Umaasa akong ang hudikatura ay kikiling sa ating mga hog-raisers, chicken producers at fisherfolk (I am hoping that our judiciary will eventually side with our hog-raisers, chicken producers and fishermen),” the lawmaker stressed.