‘That’s not fair,’ DA chief says on calls to resign over rising pork prices

Agriculture Secretary William Dar. INQUIRER file photo / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines — Agriculture Secretary William Dar on Tuesday nixed various calls to step down in view of the high prices of pork and chicken, saying that would be unfair for him.

“That’s not fair, we are having a mix of interventions [that] could handle this concern on food prices,” Dar said in an interview over ANC’s “Matters of Fact,” in response to pork producer groups who are accusing the secretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA) of favoring importers and smugglers over local traders.

Dar later added in response to the accusations: “That’s not true, all my work is a balancing act for the farmers and the consuming public.”

It was on Monday when some market vendors staged a “pork holiday” in Metro Manila as the implementation of President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to put a price cap on pork and chicken products began.

Duterte’s Executive Order No. 124 has set price ceilings of P270 for a kilo of “kasim or pigue,” P300 per kilo for “liempo,” and P160 per kilo for dressed chicken.

Dar previously blamed unscrupulous traders and profiteers for the abnormal price increases, but local raisers claimed that the price increase is a combination of factors such as the slow recovery of food establishments from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the unimpeded importation of meat, and the persistence of the African swine fever (ASF).

Dar, meanwhile, also defended his agency, saying that the DA was not “slow” in responding to the ASF outbreak, which has since affected 37 provinces since 2019.

“When I came in August 2019, nandyan na yung problema at [the problem was already there and] we continued to work with LGUs every step of the way,” he said.

The agriculture chief added that his agency has “elevated the platform” to address the outbreak of ASF.

“This time around, we elevated the platform so meron na tayong bantay sa ASF sa barangay [We already have surveillance of ASF in villages]. Meron na rin rapid PCR [tests] that we  are procuring and we will give this to the local government units as they will be monitoring and doing surveillance,” he said.

“Within one hour, makikita mo na kung may sakit ang baboy and dun mai-implement right away yung quarantine protocols,” he added.

(Within one hour, we will already know if a pig has been infected, and from there we can implement right away the quarantine protocols.)

JPV