Let Christmas be merry

With Christmas just around the corner, will a ban on pork imports to contain the spread of African Swine Fever (ASF) in the country justified? Posing a question like this is just like putting forward a proposition in a debate. And you’ll hear both sides give equally valid positions.

Taking up the cudgels for the banning of pork imports – be they frozen or processed – is the Samahan ng Industriyang Agrikultura (SINAG), led by its chairman, Rosendo So. On the opposite side is the Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (PAMPI), whose member-companies rely mainly on imported meat.

Before we go any further, let me emphasize that ASF does not affect humans. So the public should not worry too much about consuming pork products, especially if they’ve been certified by the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS); the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI); and, Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

During our Kapihan sa Manila Bay, So put forward new arguments with corresponding circumstantial evidence to prove why the government needs to suspend the importation of pork products from any exporting country.

Prior to going to our breakfast news forum, So told us he witnessed in Carmen, Pangasinan the burying to the ground of several kilos of seized longganiza and tocino which were tested positive for using ASF-tainted pork meats. He motored all the way from there to join us in our Kapihan sa Manila Bay last Wednesday at Café Adriatico in Remedios Circle, Malate.

The situation right now, according to Health Undersecretary and FDA officer-in-charge Dr. Rolando Enrique Domingo, is there already exists a ban on pork imports from countries with confirmed cases of ASF.  Usec Domingo, who was also our guest in Kapihan sa Manila Bay last Wednesday, disclosed the FDA has stopped issuing certificates of product registration to products from “ASF countries” since June 2018.

Poland has long been on that list of ASF countries, as well as China, Hungary, Latvia, Romania, Russia and Ukraine, with the Philippines added to these ASF-infected countries across the globe.

Last July, however, So recalled a consignee managed to slip into a port in Cebu frozen meat from Poland by simply declaring the shipment as originating from Germany. This, according to him, stresses the importance of border control in the campaign to stop the spread of ASF in the Philippines.

So cited there is a three-year-old law called the Food Safety Act, or Republic Act (RA) 10611, that mandates strict quarantine and inspection procedures at the port of entry for food imports. Section 12(b) of this law requires imported food products to undergo joint cargo inspection and clearance procedures by the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the DOH “at the first port of entry to determine compliance with national regulations.” Both the NMIS and BAI are attached agencies of DA.

 Since the ASF outbreak, the BOC reported having turned over to the BAI a total of 31,607.5 kilograms of seized meat and meat products with no sanitary and phytosanitary clearances since January 2019. All kinds of animal meat – whether fresh, frozen, cooked, uncooked or canned – brought in without permits from ASF-affected countries were detected and seized from the checked-in and hand-carried luggage/baggage of incoming passengers that went through X-ray scan machines for meat products.

But those seized meat products covered only those confiscated by inter-agency authorities, which include the Customs Bureau personnel, assigned at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). So deplored this is not being implemented strictly in other ports of entry across the Philippines. The practice today, he noted, is that the meat imports are going straight to the Customs for the assessment of taxes and duties, instead of being inspected first by the DA and DOH, as mandated by law.   

Also, even if the DA and DOH would inspect the shipments first, their efforts would just be all for naught because of the absence of adequate testing facilities to detect ASF in the country’s ports. President Duterte already approved the release of a P1-billion contingency fund for the establishment of laboratories and facilities to manage, control and contain ASF. 

While these facilities are still being set up, SINAG called out for the government to suspend for now the importation of pork products.

This is the subject of the letter sent by SINAG to the DOH, DA and BOC they sent two weeks ago. If these agencies will continue to allow pork imports to come in despite the absence of these facilities, So warned, they would be breaking the law. Speaking for SINAG, So threatened to bring their petition before the courts. “Kung di nila mai-implement, idedemanda na namin ang Customs, DA at DOH…’Yan ang next step na gagawin namin, ” So vowed.

From their own inquiries, SINAG found out from the raisers of ASF-infected pigs in Rizal were fed with swill sold by a concessionaire of hotels in Manila. Surely, he believed, these hotels will not buy from illegal sources.

Latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed local production of hogs rose two percent to 551,620 metric tons in the third quarter this year even with the entry of the ASF in the country. The growth was due to increases in slaughtering activities and early disposal of stocks in Cagayan Valley, Mimaropa and Zamboanga Peninsula due to the fear of being affected by ASF.

To date, the ASF has infected only about 0.15 percent of the country’s total swine population based from DA official estimates. Of this total, government authorities have only culled around 0.4 percent of hogs within the 1-kilometer zone of ASF-infected farms. But all these statistics translate to around P350 million in losses for the local hog raisers, including the backyard hog raisers at their homes.

If the Philippines would fail to effectively contain the spread of ASF, So echoed the growing fears of many that Filipinos face the prospects of pork supply shortage and the prices of pork products to rise two to three times higher. It would not be merry this Christmas if this is not checked sooner than later.