Pangasinan Mayors ban imported meat selling

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.