Dar: Kickback claim on pork to be probed

AGRICULTURE Secretary William D. Dar said on Tuesday the Department of Agriculture (DA) will launch an investigation regarding Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s claim of an existing “tongpats” [kickback] system in the country’s pork importation.

“We will investigate,” Dar told the BusinessMirror via SMS when asked if the DA will look into the allegations made by Lacson during Monday’s Senate plenary session regarding the alleged P5 to P7 per kilogram of imported pork kickback scheme.

Lacson bared the allegation just before senators adopted a resolution, expressing the sense of the Senate, asking President Duterte to reject a twin proposal, both endorsed by DA, to slash tariffs on imported pork while increasing the minimum access volume (MAV) for imports. There had been concern that these moves, instead of curbing inflation from price spikes and supply shortfalls caused by African Swine Fever (ASF), would simply kill the local hog industry, deprive government of revenue, and fatten vested interests. Hog raisers asked Duterte on Tuesday to reject the cut-tariffs-hike-MAV proposals.

Read also “Local hog raisers write Duterte.”

In a statement issued on Monday, MAV Secretariat Executive Director Jane Bacayo said the allocation of MAV is “above-board.”

“The allocations of existing MAV licensees are those they have been using even before the administration of Secretary Dar, in accordance with the existing MAV guidelines,” Bacayo said.

“Under the MAV guidelines, licensees who utilize 70 percent of their allocation for the previous MAV Year will retain their MAV allocation,” Bacayo added.

Due to this, Bacayo pointed out that MAV licensees “always try their best to utilize 70 percent of their allocation so that they will retain their existing allocation for the succeeding year.”

“Issuance of MAV import clearance to MAV licensees is ministerial or non-discretionary on the part of the MAV Secretariat. MAV allocations and licenses are strictly non-transferable,” Bacayo said.

Resolution

The Senate on Monday adopted a resolution asking Duterte to declare a state of national emergency due to the ASF and rejecting twin proposals to slash pork tariffs while increasing MAV for pork imports.

Lacson disclosed at Monday’s plenary session that he received information from “highly placed officials” that certain DA officials are getting P5 to P7 per kilogram of pork imported.

Lacson pointed out that this is happening at the present tariff regime and could double to P10 to P15 if the Executive proceeds to reduce tariff rates to as low as 5 percent.

“We should unmask who is/are behind this scheme no matter how powerful and influential he may be with this administration,” the senator stressed, adding: “I want to see even a whiff of enthusiasm from the President to order the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) and other concerned agencies to investigate, not to mention heed the call of the Senate to disapprove the DA’s recommendation to reduce the tariff and increase the volume of pork importation. Let us see.”

So far, Lacson disclosed, “we have received documents from the Bureau of Customs and DA” but added that “still, we need more data to get to the bottom of the anomaly.”

At the same time, the senator disclosed a letter from the Agricultural Sector Alliance of the Philippines (AGAP) party list to Senate President Sotto on behalf of 80,000 backyard hog raisers, expressing concern that the DA’s proposed increase in pork meat importation by expanding the MAV while imposing a reduced tariff “may kill the local industry.”

Signed by its president Nicanor Briones, AGAP said that while it is not against importation, 400,000 MT is too much and may cause an oversupply nationwide, while cutting tariff rates may cost the government some P13.95 billion in revenues, and thus “unnecessary and unacceptable.”

Lacson added that similarly, concerned poultry integrators composed of major producers and suppliers of poultry also appealed to Dar to calibrate the importation of finished chicken products and stay within the MAV limit of 23.4 million kilos per year.

“They requested that the DA disallow the continued importation of chicken finished products, especially “with diseases that have mostly come from abroad,” he said, noting that historical data show increased importation may destroy the local poultry industry.