CALASIAO, Pangasinan -
Mayors in Pangasinan have banned the sale of imported frozen meat in public
markets in their towns and cities to support the appeal of local hog raisers
for the government to stop the smuggling of pork and chicken.
Members of the League
of Municipalities of the Philippines in Pangasinan passed a resolution on the
ban to save local backyard hog raisers and safeguard public health. The
resolution was approved by 26 mayors and representatives of 16 other mayors
during the LMP Pangasinan’s regular meeting last week.
Umingan Mayor Eldred P.
Tumbocon, who sponsored the resolution, said the mayors recognized the need to
support the campaign against the proliferation of imported pork in public markets.
Tumbocon said the loss
of livelihood and employment in backyard piggeries can be reversed if smuggled
pork is banned from wet markets and only locally produced meat is sold.
“The advocacy is not
only to protect the Pangasinan hog raisers but also those from other provinces,”
he said.
Last year, the Umingan
town council passed a resolution suspending the sale of imported frozen meat in
the town’s public market after backyard raisers and vendors complained about
the proliferation of imported meat there.
“We also received
complaints from consumers that the imported meat did not taste good,’ he said.
“With the LMP
resolution, we can impose a permanent ban. I believe all town mayors of
Pangasinan strongly support the advocacy against smuggled meat,” Tumbocon said.
Earlier, Urdaneta City
and the towns of Bayambang and Mangaldan paased resolutions banning the sale of
imported frozen meat in their public markets.
Rosendo So, head of the
Swine Development Council and chair of the party-list group Abono, said as much
as 87 million kilograms of pork had been smuggled into the country since last
year.
Citing reports from the
Bureau of Customs (BOC), So said that of 102 million kg of offal imported in
2011, at least 87 million kg “illegally entered the country and flooded wet
markets.”
In his visit to Dagupan
City last week, Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro A. Casiño said he was one with So’s
concerns on the smuggling of pork and other meat products.
“The local hog industry
will die if this practice will not be checked by the BOC [and the Department of
Agriculture],” he said.
“Smuggling has become
so rampant that local agricultural producers are now hurting,” said Dagupan
Mayor Benjamin Lim. Yolanda Sotelo, Inquirer Northern Luzon.
