By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz & Samuel P. Medenilla
A LEADER of the House of Representatives on Monday urged the government to impose a moratorium on the importation of all pork products to prevent hog raisers from incurring more losses due to African swine fever (ASF).
House Deputy Speaker Conrado Estrella of Abono party-list noted that the local hog industry has absorbed over P1 billion in losses since the dreaded ASF struck hog farms in Luzon.
“I think it is now time for government to impose a moratorium on pork product importation until we have completely cleared our pig farms of the ASF threat. We have to stop the bleeding before it’s too late,” said Estrella.
He also said lawmakers backed the proposal to stop local meat processing firms and distributors from purchasing imported pork, saying the Philippines has sufficient supply to cover the needs of every Filipino.
“Visayas and Mindanao can be tapped to supply affected meat processors who do not want to source pork from Luzon,” Estrella said. “Now we ask, where did the ASF virus-infected meat samples come from? Certainly, not from local hog raisers.”
Local government units are now blocking the entry of pork-related products, even imported ones, to prevent ASF from affecting hog farms in their areas. However, the Cold Chain Association of the Philippines warned in a BusinessMirror report that this could result in the congestion of ports as more containers will be parked there.
Estrella also supported various campaigns assuring Filipinos that ASF does not have any effect on human health.
“Many local government units have been conducting lechon-eating festivals in their localities, these are laudable efforts to guarantee their constituents that pork is safe to eat,” he said.
Deputy Majority Leader and Bagong Henerasyon Rep. Bernadette Herrera said the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, Land Transportation Office and barangay police must be mobilized to help the Department of Agriculture (DA) ensure the safety of local meat.
Herrera also wants the DA to give more cash aid to backyard hog raisers and even large-scale growers so they will not hide or smuggle out diseased animals.
“The cash aid is just for them to make it through these tough times. For the long term, we need an honest-to-goodness food safety system much better than what we have now,” she said.
Aid for workers
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) must assist workers who will be displaced because of the impact of ASF on the local meat processing industry, according to the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP).
BMP issued the statement after the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said reports about ASF have already started to affect the demand for pork products.
BMP Chairman Leody de Guzman said DOLE should start “intensified monitoring” of the meat processing industry to check if workers have been retrenched because of ASF so they could be given alternative livelihood or emergency employment.
“The DA [Department of Agriculture] has reported P1-billion loss per month in the industry, but there is no calculation yet of how much the ASF has cost labor in terms of rotations, layoffs and extended work hours,” de Guzman said.
De Guzman also called on the Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC) to craft better health and sanitation standards for workers in the agriculture and food manufacturing industry.
He said this in response to the increasing prevalence of livestock related diseases, which could affect workers.
“For so long, our workers have been in the frontline of protecting consumers from industry’s cost-cutting practices with their due diligence in food handling and packaging. We must afford them the same protection,” said de Guzman.