IATF OKs ‘hog lanes’ to control ASF spread

MANILA, Philippines — The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) has given assurance of unhampered transporting of hog shipments from the Visayas and Mindanao to avert possible shortages of pork and poultry due to the adverse impact of African swine fever (ASF) in Metro Manila and greater Luzon.

Quoting IATF Resolution 92, presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. yesterday said the government had also designated as special hog lanes the country’s nautical highway and the Maharlika Highway in Luzon.

“The IATF, in its Resolution 97, also approved the recommendation of the National Task Force Against COVID-19 Task Group on Food Security in ensuring the unhampered passage of hog shipment from the Visayas and Mindanao, while preventing the spread of the African swine fever and observing all science-based precautionary and quarantine measures,” Roque said.

He added that the IATF has directed the Departments of Agriculture (DA), the Interior and Local Government and of Trade and Industry to jointly implement the resolution.

The issuance of the resolution came on the heels of the DA’s claim that pork and poultry products are sufficient for the first quarter of 2021.

In Pangasinan, Samahan ng Industriyang Agrikultura (SINAG) chairman Rosendo So said yesterday that only 10 percent of the total hog supply in the province was left after losing 90 percent to ASF last year.

The situation, he added, contributed to the spike in the prices of pork in the province.

Roque assured the public the other day that the government is closely monitoring the prices of pork, chicken and other commodities. He said government-backed Kadiwa stores are deployed to provide cheaper alternatives to consumers.

“Aside from that, we are also ready to impose price control on products with very high prices. There is also the importation of pork and poultry from the Visayas, Mindanao and other areas not affected by the ASF,” he said in Filipino.

Malacañang is finalizing the executive order, which Duterte is expected to sign soon. Once approved, the price ceiling will be set at P270 per kilo for pork kasim, P300 for pork liempo and P160 for chicken.

In a report to Agriculture Secretary William Dar last December, the DA’s National Livestock Program (NLP) said more than 213,500 hogs from the Visayas and Mindanao were shipped to Metro Manila and nearby provinces since May 2020 to augment the supply of pork and pork products.

William Medrano, DA-NLP head and undersecretary for livestock, said the bulk of the hogs come from Region 12 or Soccsksargen, which has sent more than 88,800 heads and counting since May.

This translates to 42 percent of the total shipment, followed by Region 6 or Western Visayas, which sent 52,700 heads or 25 percent.

“Due to the ASF, the country’s pork inventory suffered at an alarming level and the move to ship hogs from the Visayas and Mindanao was a pre-emptive measure to arrest the worsening pork supply and prices in Metro Manila,” Dar said earlier.

The House of Representatives has summoned Dar to a hearing on Tuesday, Feb. 2, to explain the rising prices of pork and other basic goods in the market as Filipinos continue to face financial burdens caused by the coronavirus pandemic. – With Edu Punay, Louise Maureen Simeon, Mary Grace Padin, Eva Visperas

Its committee on food and agriculture is investigating in aid of legislation the rising prices to determine its causes, evaluate the measures taken by the DA and formulate solutions to address the matter.

While the DA has been claiming that only close to 500,000 hogs have been lost due to ASF, stakeholders and hog raisers claim that more than four million hogs have actually been lost.