The Department of Agriculture (DA) said it is keen on punishing tourists who will bring in pork products from countries affected by African swine fever (ASF) with a fine of not less than P200,000.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol told the BusinessMirror that the DA is now studying the possibility of penalizing erring tourists to ensure that the Philippines will remain free from the dreaded hog disease. Piñol said he has instructed his policy team to review if the DA has legal authority to issue an administrative order (AO) mandating the implementation of the stringent measure.
If the DA cannot issue an AO, the DA chief said he would urge Congress to introduce a bill that would allow the agency to impose penalties.
“The DA is still looking for the legal basis [to impose the fine]. We are working on it, our policy and planning office is working on it,” Piñol said in an interview on Sunday.
“Personally, I believe the penalty should not be lower than P200,000 on the first offense,” he added.
Slapping erring tourists with a fine is part of government efforts to prevent the dreaded ASF from harming the country’s P200-billion hog sector.
While it is not transmissible to humans, the ASF is fatal to live hogs. The ASF virus could also survive in processed meat products, such as siomai and bacon.
The DA chief made the pronouncement after Taiwan decided to penalize tourists who will smuggle pork products from ASF-affected countries.
Visitors to Taiwan who will be caught carrying or smuggling pork products from abroad are fined with NT$200,000 (P340,000) and will not be allowed to enter the country if they will not pay the fine. Those who will be caught the second time will be fined with NT$1 million (P1.7 million), according to online news reports.
Taipei is mulling over to raise the penalty for the first offense to NT$300,000 (P513,000).
Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines (ProPork) President Edwin G. Chen earlier told the BusinessMirror that his group supports the proposal and even encouraged the government to file cases of economic sabotage against erring tourists.
Sniffing dogs
Piñol also said the government may tap sniffing dogs to strengthen the biosecurity measures rolled out in airports and seaports. He said the deployment of sniffing dogs is cheaper than x-ray machines.
He said the government will deploy a pair of dogs in every airport and port of entry nationwide.
This is an additional measure that has been agreed upon by the DA, Bureau of Animal Industry and National Federation of Hog Farmers Inc. last Thursday, Piñol said.
“The dogs will be used to ferret out luggage containing meat products brought into the country without Sanitary and Phytosanitary Permits,” he said.
Piñol said the DA has invited companies “offering services of sniffing dogs” to coordinate with the agency. The DA will tap calamity funds for the deployment of sniffing dogs.
He said the deployment of sniffing dogs would now be “standard operating procedure” for the government.