Swine farmers push Senate Bill 1004

The National Federation of Hog Farmers Inc. (NFHFI) has sents an appeal to President Arroyo and Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. to act decisively and swiftly on the issue of importation of carabao meat.

The organization is referring to Senate Bill 1004 which seeks to allow meat importation only from countries and zones free from foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).

NFHFI president Nemesio Co said "the principal source of carabao meat is FMD risky India. There is a danger that even FMD-free Visayas and Mindanao as certified by the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) can be afflicted by the dreaded disease. Which is very contagious and can spread far and wide through the air. FMD can wipe out gains that took commercial and backyard hog farmers almost a decade to achieve."

Nick Briones, NFHFI official and president of LIMCOMA, a Batangas hog framers cooperative, said "it is bad enough that the country is importing Indian carabao meat legally at the rate of five million kilos a month. Even legal importation is not risk-free. That is why the US, Australia and New Zealand and other developed countries do not import at all from FMD infected countries and zones to protect their livestock industry." For his part, NFHFI president Albert R.T. Lim Jr. complained that Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr., chairman of the Senate committee on agriculture and food, sat on the bill for more than six months until the closing of 12th Congress last Feb. 6.

Federation members were astonished he said that on the very first committee hearing of the Senate bill, Magsaysay after less than an hour of discussions shelved the bill. The hog farmers were stunned when the senator refused to attach any significance to House Bill 767 – a similar bill – which has been passed unanimously.

Lim further explained SB 1004 never reached the Senate floor. Magsaysay called for a technical working group but as of Feb. 6, it had not yet met to prepare a report on the bill. He did not give the bill a chance to undergo th scrutiny of his colleagues and be judged on its merits. Now, we are back at square one."

Co said their federation and supporters will work again for the anti-FMD bill when the 13th Congress convenes. He asserted that NFHFI wants to provide the public with safe, quality and affordable meat products. "However, we cannot do this alone. We need legislators and other public officials who will protect our agriculture and agricultural producers.