Rodrigo Duterte

Duterte asks Congress to give EO on pork imports 2 months

Pia Ranada

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Duterte asks Congress to give EO on pork imports 2 months

PORK WOES. President Rodrigo Duterte tackles his executive order on pork import taxes on April 19, 2021.

Malacañang Photo

Malacañang asks lawmakers to give Executive Order No. 128 a chance to stabilize pork prices and lower inflation

President Rodrigo Duterte has asked lawmakers to give his controversial executive order lowering taxes on imported pork two months, after both chambers of Congress moved towards revoking the executive measure.

“President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is asking the esteemed members of the Senate to give Executive Order No 128 a chance,” Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said in a statement on Wednesday, April 21.

“Let us revisit the EO in two months to assess whether the aforesaid intended effects have been realized or met,” Roque added.

The earliest that Congress can revoke the EO is on May 17, when the reopening of session gives the two chambers the chance to approve their joint resolutions in plenary.

Malacañang is appealing to lawmakers to refrain from approving the joint resolution until June to give the EO a chance to achieve its goal of stabilizing pork meat prices and lowering inflation.

Congress concerned about local hog industry

The Senate, sitting as the committee of the whole, has already adopted a resolution urging Duterte to withdraw EO 128, saying it would kill the local hog industry already besieged by the double whammy of the African swine fever (ASF) outbreak and the coronavirus pandemic. 

In the House, lawmakers also co-authored their own joint resolution calling on Duterte to scrap EO 128, though this is still pending approval. 

Both the National Economic and Development Authority and Department of Agriculture have defended the EO, saying there is a need to lower taxes on imported pork and increase the allowed amount of pork imports because domestic supply is not enough to meet demand.

Increasing pork imports, said Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Chua, would stabilize pork prices, which would then benefit Filipino consumers whose incomes are also strapped by the pandemic.

Duterte ‘understands’ senators

The stance of the Senate on his EO was one of the subjects of Duterte’s last pandemic-related public address on Monday, April 19.

Duterte then said he “understands” the position of senators and their wish to protect the local hog industry.

“The problem, the managers, the finance…for them, the managers of my departments believe that it would, in the end, anyway if the domestic market gets stronger and there is movement, it will be easy, we can always withdraw the EO that I signed. It’s just a temporary measure, really, to bring down the prices,” said the President.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar, in his presentation to the President that night, defended the EO as having gone through a “painstaking process” of research and analysis.

Dar said domestic pork supply is at 1.2 million metric tons, whereas demand is at 1.6 million metric tons and that the EO is necessary to make up for the gap. Dar also said the incidence of African swine fever has been going down in recent months. – Rappler.com


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Pia Ranada

Pia Ranada is Rappler’s Community Lead, in charge of linking our journalism with communities for impact.