Bacolod bans pork from Luzon

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (PAMPI) continues to have problems with provinces – including Cebu, Bohol and Negros Occidental – that have banned the entry of processed pork products from Luzon.

Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia has issued an executive order to ban the entry of live pigs, hog carcass and pork products from Luzon for at least 90 days – a move which supports a similar ban imposed by the Negros Occidental provincial government on Sept. 11.

“Local government units have been issuing their own regulations to protect the swine industry but these caused confusion and production standstill in our industry. Banning the entry of processed meat from Luzon on fear that such products could transmit the ASF virus sends the wrong signal to investors and that could harm the country’s economy,” PAMPI president Felix Tiukinhoy said.

Rex Agarrado, PAMPI spokesman, noted that government units have been acting individually as he urged the departments of Agriculture, Health, Trade and Industry and the Interior and Local Government to cosign a document that would be implemented nationwide.

“It should be science-based and the government should hold hands and work together, but we don’t see that up to now,” Agarrado said.

Cagayan de Oro City 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez echoed the same sentiment, noting that the hog industry is losing because of perception among consumers.

“The sales of the hog industry will suffer so much and our processing industry will likewise feel the same,” he said.

While Geron sees the efforts of the DA to handle the situation, he called on the whole of government to cooperate and participate so as not to make the situation worse.

“We can see that this is now beyond the control of the DA, they should not be the only one handling this. It is a national issue that should be handled by different departments,” Geron said.

The ASF virus is now present in 17 areas nationwide and the government has so far culled more than 20,000 pigs, which is about 0.15 percent of total inventory.

Yesterday, two Bulacan mayors – Enrico Roque of Pandi and Ma. Rosario Ochoa-Montejo of Pulilan – confirmed the presence of ASF in some farms.

Both executives said quarantine checkpoints were set up to monitor the movement of hogs as well as implement regular blood sampling and culling.

The Philippines has 12.8 million hogs.

Low payment

Meanwhile, current compensation of the government to hog raisers may have abetted the spread of African swine fever (ASF), prompting lawmakers to push for higher indemnity payments.

Rep. Rico Geron of party-list group Agricultural Sector Alliance of the Philippines is calling on the Department of Agriculture (DA) to pay at least 70 percent of the market value of each pig to be culled, as he noted that the agency gives only a standard rate of P3,500 for every pig when the actual average market value ranges from P8,000 to P20,000.

“The P3,500 is just too small. If I’m the farmer, I will try to do something about it. That’s also one of the reasons why they (DA) cannot contain the virus because others are keeping their pigs,” Geron told reporters.

“Just look at the case in Pangasinan, it was transported and the raiser tried to bring it outside to sell it at a higher price,” he added.

Pangasinan was recently included in the ASF-hit areas after 15 out of 30 blood samples taken from hogs that were confiscated and condemned in Barangay Baloling in Mapandan tested positive for the virus.

Geron argued that the “one size fits all” formula is not applicable as the value of hogs varies and every raiser has different investment for every pig. – With Louise Maureen Simeon, Ramon Efren Lazaro