22 hog farms probed for price-supply manipulation

MANILA, Philippines — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has inspected 22 hog farms in Bulacan for possible manipulation of prices and hoarding of pork in the market.

The Bureau of Customs (BOC), meanwhile, yesterday reported shredding at least one container of alleged “hog casings” or intestines worth P1.5 million at its facility in San Pascual, Batangas.

In Bulacan, NBI agents visited hog farms in Sta. Maria, San Jose del Monte, San Ildefonso, Angat and Baliuag, Bulacan on Wednesday, NBI-National Capital Region director Cesar Bacani told The STAR yesterday.

The NBI was tasked by the Department of Justice to go after pork hoarders and price manipulators.

NBI agent Yuri Beltran said they would look into whether or not the supply of pigs was being manipulated by the hog farms.

“We will follow the trail (of the pork) to find out if the supply is being prevented from reaching the market,” Beltran said in an ABS-CBN news report.

The national government has imposed a price cap on pork and chicken, which compelled retailers and importers to go on a pork holiday to avoid selling at a loss.

In a statement, the BOC said that destroying the hog casings is in compliance with the provisions of the Republic Act 10863, or the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, particularly on the “Disposition of Goods Injurious to Public Health.”

The BOC added that the effort was also part of its campaign to free up storage facilities of abandoned and illegally shipped items to further improve the country’s trade facilitation.

In Metro Manila, vendors have started receiving hogs from Visayas and Mindanao and some parts of Luzon.

The Department of Agriculture said about 8,000 hogs have already been shipped to Metro Manila and distributed to major wet markets in the capital.

Yesterday alone, 3,000 hogs equivalent to 200 metric tons from General Santos arrived in Manila.

Pork products transported to Manila are largely sourced from Ilocos, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Western Visayas, Northern Mindanao and Socckskargen.

“The total volume they have committed is at 4,860 hogs daily and if we look at the average requirement, it’s at 4,000 per day. So that level is manageable,” Agriculture Undersecretary Ariel Cayanan said.

Executive Order 124 puts a 60-day cap on pork kasim at P270 per kilogram, pork liempo at P300 and chicken at P160 a kilo in Metro Manila markets.

But due to logistics and transport constraints, some vendors still cannot comply with the cap and can only sell at around P330 to P350 a kilo.

“From the height of P400 a kilo, we are slowly working that out that’s why we are bringing in more pork to Manila,” Cayanan said.

Calabarzon is expected to supply 2,690 hogs daily, Northern Mindanao and Soccksargen with 1,429 hogs each, Ilocos with 926, Mimaropa with 500 and Western Visayas with 429 hogs.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar lauded the private sector and hog stakeholders for helping in stabilizing supply and prices in Metro Manila.

“Despite some vendors and traders going on a pork holiday last Monday, we can see that business is picking up with initial hog deliveries from Mindanao, Visayas and Luzon, enabling market retailers to comply with the ceiling prices of pork, and with enough profit margin,” Dar said.

“Based on the initial outcome of our interventions, and with the help of the private sector, we can say that we were able to hurdle the shortage,” he said.

Food summit defended

Meanwhile, Malacañang yesterday defended its decision to call for a food security summit, saying a new strategy is needed to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque announced on Wednesday the executive department’s call for a food summit.

Mindanao Development Authority chairman and former agriculture secretary Emmanuel Piñol took offense on the announcement, saying it appeared that he knew nothing about food security planning. In an online post, Piñol said it seemed that the idea to hold a food summit only surfaced now when a food security master plan was one of the “major undertakings” of the agriculture department in 2018. He also noted that a food security summit that sought to address food shortage was already done more than two years ago.

Asked to react to Piñol’s statement, Roque said the food summit is necessary because the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the everyday lives of Filipinos.

“Assuming that there was a previous food summit, the pandemic is really a game changer. We never thought there would be a pandemic of this scale and scope and we still need a food summit,” Roque said at a press briefing.

Roque said it seemed that the earlier food security summit was only held in some areas.

“And of course, after COVID-19, we need a new strategy because COVID-19 really changed our everyday lives completely,” he added.

Roque said it would be up to the agriculture department to decide on the date of the food summit, which also seeks to strengthen the cooperation between local governments, the private sector and other stakeholders.

In the same online post, Piñol said commitments of support, especially in providing facilities for greater production, were made to local executives who attended the food security summit. He said most of the recommendations of the master plan were not implemented because it was not given priority funding. — Alexis Romero, Louise Maureen Simeon