Salceda opposes reduction of tariffs on pork

Joey Salceda

MANILA, Philippines — Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, chair of the House ways and means committee, on Monday opposed the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) proposal to reduce tariffs on pork, saying only big businesses would benefit from the reduction.

“We’ve run the numbers, and our findings are that, at the levels the DA is trying to propose for importation, the tariff reduction will only impact average consumer pork prices by 50 centavos. This is not worth the pain it will cause farmers, and it is certainly not worth the trouble of more inspections,” Salceda said during the inquiry of the House committee on ways and means on agricultural smuggling.

“Even with the current pork tariffs of 40 percent, the imported price will be around P187 per kilo. Considering that pork has reached up to P400 per kilo in some markets, there is no logic for a tariff reduction. Even at a tariff rate of 100 percent, there would still be an incentive to import,” he added.

The lawmaker warned that a tariff reduction merely “pads the profits of big businessmen.”

“Only the big supermarkets and importers will benefit from a tariff reduction. They will already make very big money at the current tariff [rates],” he said.

Salceda said an unnecessary tariff reduction could hurt the domestic swine industry, 71 percent of which is backyard production.

He said the DA should “allow more importation at current tariff rates.”

“Whatever is in excess of what we usually import, let’s use the tariff revenues as an RCEF (Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund) for the swine industry. That could reach P14 billion more in tariff revenues if we import all of our shortfall,” he said.

“I’d prefer an RCEF for pork. The free hybrid seeds from rice worked to reduce our import dependence on rice. Let’s do the same for the pork value chain. Because the problem is domestic,” he added.

—NESTOR CORRALES