Sotto: EO 128 on pork imports will be amended
May 07, 2021 07:15 PM
Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III announced that President Duterte's Executive Order 128 on pork imports will finally be amended after lengthy debates in the Senate.
“We had to strike a balance between accepting a formula in the reduction of inflation and the protection of the local swine industry."
Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said that President Rodrigo Duterte will soon issue a new Executive Order (EO) amending the previous one which dropped pork tariffs while raising the minimum access volume (MAV).
“EO 128 will be amended,” Sotto confirmed.
After negotiations between the Senate and the Malacañang, he said that it is now up to Department of Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III to announce the updated tariff rates and MAV levels.
“We had to strike a balance between accepting a formula in the reduction of inflation and the protection of the local swine industry,” Sotto told reporters.
Discussions within the Senate Committee Of The Whole, led by Sotto, were concluded last Tuesday. Aside from addressing the President's previous EO, the council also launched an investigation into the alleged "tongpats" corruption scheme in both the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Bureau of Customs, as well as the DA's supposed mishandling of the surge in African swine fever infections in the country.
Senators eventually came to an agreement on duty rates and MAV following a “seesaw of discussions," the Sotto described.
According to several DA experts, senators said during their review, the recommended MAV, previously at 54,000 MT, should not surpass 100,000 MT, or even be raised at all.
Aside from the Senate, local hog raisers also opposed the reduction of tariffs and increase of MAV, as it could cause an oversupply of pork in Visayas and Mindanao, which would harm their local pork industry.
