Palace: 2,000 hogs from South Cotabato arrive in Manila to address pork shortage

MANILA, Philippines — About 2,000 hogs from South Cotabato have been delivered in Manila to address the lack of pork supply in the capital region, Malacañang said Wednesday.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the hogs would be distributed to different markets in Metro Manila to lower prices and to make them fall within the ceiling set by the government.

"Two thousand hogs from South Cotabato have arrived and are now in Vitas, Tondo," Roque told state-run television station PTV-4 Wednesday.  

"They will be distributed to different markets in Metro Manila. This is in line with the measures to solve the lack of pork supply in Metro Manila so that prices of pork will go down and will be within the price cap set by our government," he added.

Prices of pork products have soared because of reduced supply caused by the African Swine Fever (ASF). Last month, President Duterte issued Executive Order no. 124 setting a price cap of P270 per kilo for kasim or pork shoulder; P300 per kilo for liempo or pork belly; and P160 per kilo for dressed chicken.

Some pork traders and vendors have criticized the price ceiling and have refused to sell their products in protest of the executive order.

To augment the pork supply in Metro Manila, the government announced plans to buy pork from the Visayas, Mindanao and parts of Luzon that were not hit by the ASF. It has also allocated P27 billion in loans to assist the hog industry and P600 million to help hog raisers in their repopulation efforts. A task force has also been created to run after hoarders.