An agriculture group has filed a complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman against Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary William Dar for allegedly initiating tariff cuts on imported pork, which he said would kill the local hog industry.
The Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) also wants to know who or what other agencies are allegedly colluding with the DA to lower the tariff on imported meat and raise the minimum access volume.
“‘Yung figure nila kinuha lang nila sa internet eh. Hindi nila kinuha sa import price or custom price. Dapat doon nila binase kung magkano ang puhunan ng importer. So kung sino ang nagbigay nito, dapat sampahan din ng kaso kung ‘yan ba ay DTI, kung ito ba ay NEDA,” said Sinag chairman Rosendo So.
So added that the DA has so far not inspected frozen meats entering the country that allegedly violate the Food Safety Act.
“Up to now, hindi pa rin chine-check ng ating DA ang dumadating na mga kargamento sa ating bansa. Ibig sabihin zero testing pagdating sa ating bansa. Kung makikita natin, parang ang ginagawa is pinapatay ang ating local industry pero ang dumadating from other countries hindi nila sinusuri,” So insisted.
Agri group files complaint with Ombudsman vs DA chief Dar
Last week, the Senate and Congress formally passed a resolution to revoke President Rodrigo Duterte’s signed executive order for the reduced tariff on imported pork.
Last week, Dar said that President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order No. 128, which lowers the tariff rate on imported pork, is already being implemented.
“The EO 128 is now in effect and that continues to be implemented by us. Whatever are needed in terms of say import clearances being requested by importers, the Bureau of Animal Industry is now issuing said import clearances,” Dar said during a joint meeting of the House Committees on Agriculture and Food and the Trade and Industry.
Duterte issued Executive Order 128 on April 7 where the 30 percent import tariff within the import quota or minimum access volume (MAV) will be one year reduced to 5 percent, while the 40 percent tax beyond the MAV will be only 15 percent.
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