Imee questions agri imports’ diversion from Manila to Subic

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) should justify its choice of Subic as the future site of a P500-million cold examination facility area (CEFA) for agricultural imports as its location away from Manila was “suspicious,” Sen. Imee Marcos said yesterday.

Marcos fears a higher risk of another African swine fever (ASF) outbreak if the facility’s first-border inspections operate outside Metro Manila, where most meat imports are shipped.

“What’s cooking in Subic, that imported meat and crops must be diverted away from Manila?” the senator asked.

“We’re already importing all kinds of food. Must diseases be imported too?” she said in Filipino.

She also said food imports would become more expensive for Metro Manila’s 12 million residents due to the additional cost of delivering them from Subic.

In a July 18 briefer, the DA recommended the facility’s location, funding and construction by June 2023 to President Marcos, who also heads the department.

Citing information from Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) insiders, the senator said the project – first proposed in 2019 but funding for which lapsed in 2020 – could have been built last year in Manila’s South Harbor, where a vacant 5,000-square-meter lot known as Block 162 was being managed by Asian Terminals Inc. under a concession granted by the Philippine Ports Authority.

She, however, said then DA chief William Dar and then BAI director Reildrin Morales had pushed for the construction of the laboratory-equipped facility in either Subic or Cebu.

“It’s been nine years since the Food Safety Act became law, but first-border inspections have not been properly enforced. The facility’s location is key to achieving food safety and security,” Marcos said.

Although ASF cases have subsided since the nationwide outbreaks in 2019, Marcos warned that a major outbreak could again be triggered by contaminated pork imports and cause business closures and job losses in the swine industry, a shortage of pork products and a further increase in already high market prices of pork.

Pork imports amounting to 545,213,681 kilos made up about 54 percent of total meat imports from January to September this year, she said, citing BAI figures.

Spain, Canada and Brazil supplied 61 percent of the Philippines’ pork requirements, with Belgium, the US, Denmark, the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands supplying the rest.

During the Senate finance committee deliberations on the proposed P163-billion budget of the DA for 2023 last week, officials said four CEFAs have been proposed for construction next year – Subic, Batangas, Cebu and Davao for a total cost of P1.6 billion.

CEFAs are commonly called first border inspection facilities and are supposed to screen imported vegetables, fruits, rice, fish, meat and poultry to prevent smuggling and check them for diseases.

Once operational, the CEFAs will have personnel and laboratories from the BAI, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Bureau of Plant Industry, National Meat Inspection Service and representatives from the Bureau of Customs (BOC), DA officials told the committee.

All agricultural imports will no longer pass through the regular ports, which are considered porous to smugglers due to corrupt BOC officials and lack of facilities to conduct 100 percent inspections, they said.

Agricultural imports are currently difficult to inspect, as opening containers must be done in cold areas to prevent the produce from rotting. The difficulties make it easier for smugglers to bring in agricultural produce.