Senator Christopher “Bong” Go (File photo)
MANILA – Saying the price cap on pork and chicken is effective for only two months, Senator Christopher “Bong” Go on Monday said a long-term solution is needed to address supply shortage of food commodities in the country.
“Hindi po natatapos diyan. Dapat po mayroon tayong long-term solution dahil paano na lang matapos ang dalawang buwan? So, ‘yung long-term solution po diyan ay kung maaari ay amyendahan ang batas. (It [price cap] will not end there. We should have long-term solution because what will happen after two months? So, the long-term solution there is if we can amend the law),” Go said in a media interview.
Go suggested to increase the minimum access volume (MAV) of imports of pork “to stabilize the prices”.
Last week, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei Nograles said President Rodrigo Duterte approved during the 51st Cabinet meeting on Feb. 3 the recommendation of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to increase the MAV of pork imports for this year.
Nograles said the present MAV is 54,210 metric tons while the DA projected that the annual demand for pork supply will reach 1,618,355 metric tons.
On Feb. 1, Duterte signed Executive Order 124 imposing a 60-day price ceiling on selected pork and chicken products in the National Capital Region following the rising food prices.
Under the EO, the mandated price ceiling for pork, particularly kasim or pigue is PHP270 per kilo while the price ceiling of liempo is PHP300 per kilo. The mandated price ceiling of dressed chicken is PHP160 per kilo.
Some traders and vendors reportedly called for a “pork holiday” in Metro Manila starting Monday to protest price ceilings on pork and chicken.
Go appealed to the traders and retailers not to resort to pork holiday as it would worsen the situation amid the negative impact brought by the Covid-19 pandemic to the economy.
“Huwag na po muna kayong mag-pork holiday. Dahil ang mahihirapan po dito kapag tumaas ang presyo ng pork, ‘pag tumaas ang presyo ng chicken, ay ‘yung mga ordinaryong Pilipino po na ‘isang-kahig, isang-tuka.’ (Let’s resort to pork holiday because the ordinary Filipinos will be the most affected if prices of pork and chicken are high),” Go said.
Go said the government is doing its best to address the shortage of pork supply triggered by the African swine fever (ASF).
“Lahat naman po dito ay naghihirap... binabalanse naman po ng ating gobyerno ang lahat, between traders, consumers, at itong mga hog raisers (Everyone is suffering. The government is balancing everything, between traders, consumers and hog raisers),” he said.
He appealed to the DA to subsidize the transportation of the pork supply to Metro Manila to help suppliers earn money.
In a Laging Handa virtual presser on Monday, DA Secretary William Dar said the government will provide PHP21 per kilo transport subsidy to suppliers from Mindanao; PHP15 per kilo from Visayas, Mimaropa, Bicol, and extreme northern Luzon; and PHP10 per kilo from Calabarzon and Central Luzon to stabilize the price of pork and chicken.
“We will also streamline the process of shipping or transporting live hogs from the provinces to NCR or high-demand areas,” Dar said.
He also called on the smaller local government units to not charge additional taxes for shipments of meat products as they are responding to an “urgent matter”.
Dar, meanwhile, said they are studying the ramifications of increasing pork imports to the local economy.
In a hearing in Congress last week, local meat companies opposed the increase of MAV of pork imports. (With reports from Christine Cudis/PNA)
