MANILA, Philippines—Senators gave officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA) a dressing down on Monday for seemingly favoring pork importers over local traders.
At the resumption of the Senate committee on agriculture’s hearing on rising food prices, panel chair Senator Cynthia Villar asked why the price cap for pork was set between P270 and P300 when the Bureau of Customs’ (BOC) reported landed cost was only P132 per kilo.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar reiterated that the DA was just “recommendatory,” the same answer he gave to Senate Imee Marcos when she asked about the government’s decision to raise the minimum access volume (MAV) of pork imports at lower tariffs.
READ: DA asks Palace to raise volume of pork imports
Dar’s answer, however, failed to satisfy Villar.
“No, no, it’s your responsibility. You can’t say that. Why are you recommending that if that is wrong?” Villar asked.
“Parang you’re washing your hand. You’re DA, you should protect the local industry. Alam mo na P132 lang ang per kilo, ang landed cost with all the tariff ng imported, e bakit mo pa babaan ng tariff?” she further asked.
(It seems you’re washing your hand. You’re DA, you should protect the local industry. You know that the landed cost of imported was only P132 per kilo with all the tariffs, then why do you have to reduce the tariff?)
Dar later explained that their figure was based on the current offers for frozen pork which he said was $3 per kilo.
“Ano ka ba kampi ka ba sa importer o sa local producer?” an irked Villar asked again. “E sinabi na ng BoC P132 ang landed cost, bakit binabago nyo?”
(Are you favoring the importers or the local producers? The BoC said it’s only P132, why are you changing it?)
“Ma’am, tumataas ang presyo ng pork sa global…(Ma’am, the global price of pork is rising)” Dar answered.
READ: Pork prices up sharply due to tight supply
But Villar insisted that the government’s move to lower the imported pork tariff would kill local farmers.
Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, at one point, also lost his cool when he asked how the DA arrived at the $3 per kilo pricing when the BoC’s figure only pegged it at $1.65.
DA Assistant Secretary for Policy Noel Padre repeated that their estimate was based on current offers in the world market, and the data was provided to them by the importers.
When Padre mentioned another figure, $2.69, based on the 2021 January prices, Pangilinan then pressed how the $3 per kilo was arrived at.
“Bakit yung mataas ang ibibigay ninyo, bakit hindi yung mas mababa? Wala tayong negotiation sa kanila, sila ang magbebenta sa atin tayo pa ang magbibigay ng mataas na presyo?”
(Why are you giving them higher, instead of a lower price? We don’t have any negotiation with them, they are the ones selling to us, so why are we offering them higher prices?)
“Why are we increasing the prices of the value imports? Bakit natin pinangungunahan yung importer? Bakit natin parang pinapaboran yung importer? Di ba dapat inuuna natin yung interest nung ating mga kababayan, yung interest ng gobyerno…?” Pangilinan further asked.
(Why are we increasing the prices of the value imports? Why are we preempting the importers? Why does it seem we’re favoring the importers? Are we not supposed to prioritize our countrymen’s interest, the interest of the government…)
ac