Pork supply in Luzon drops after hog raisers’ protest

DAGUPAN CITY—The supply of pork from newly slaughtered pigs in public markets on Saturday dropped by at least 60 percent after backyard hog raisers stopped selling their stocks to dramatize their protest against meat smuggling in the country.

Rosendo So, president of Northern Luzon Hog Raisers Cooperative and director of Swine Development Council, said pork supply in Pangasinan, La Union, Ilocos Sur, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija decreased by 56 percent after backyard hog raisers joined the sale suspension, their group’s monitoring showed. So, however, could not provide figures on the volume of pork supply that was cut from the market on Saturday.

“In Bulacan, the provincial veterinarian called me and said pork supply dropped by 80 percent there,” he said.

Bulacan, Metro Manila’s major supplier of pork, has around 200 commercial and 80 backyard farms, most of which are located in the towns of Sta. Maria, San Miguel, Baliuag and Pandi, and the City of San Jose del Monte.

In Dagupan City, however, pork supply was normal, according to Eduardo Cervantes, president of Dagupan City Meat Vendors’ Association.

“We anticipated the ‘pork holiday’ that’s why we bought additional stocks,” Cervantes said.

This was also reported in Asingan, Pangasinan, where vendors bought extra pigs for slaughter on Thursday.

So said their group expected all backyard raisers and commercial farms to join the suspension of sale of pigs by Sunday.

Backyard hog raisers supply 70 percent of pork sold in most public markets and the rest come from commercial farms, he said.

He said Saturday’s successful “pork break” showed that backyard hog raisers are hurting.

“Our decision not to sell reflects the sad state of the backyard hog industry, that it is in the brink of collapse because of smuggling and over-importation of pork,” So said in a statement.

He said smuggled meat, which are passed on as fresh meat, are being sold at lower prices.

The government, So said, may brush aside their activity as something not really serious.

“But the government should think again because millions of Filipinos dependent on the backyard hog industry will become jobless if it dies,” he said.—Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon, with a report from Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon