Press Release
May 11, 2021
State of Calamity declared due to African Swine Fever outbreak; Bong Go supports issuance of EO increasing the Minimum Access Volume to help stabilize pork supply and prices
Senator Christopher Bong Go expressed his support for President Rodrigo Duterte s decision to issue Proclamation No. 1143 which declares a State of Calamity throughout the Philippines for a maximum of one year due to the African Swine Fever outbreak. With the declaration of a State of Calamity, mas madaling makapag-impose ng price ceiling kung kailangan at maiwasan ang overpricing ng pork products. Ang mga government financial institutions naman ay maaari rin magbigay ng no-interest loans sa mga producers na apektado ng ASF, he said.
BusinessWorld
May 9, 2021 | 6:31 pm
VECTORJUICE/FREEPIK
The logic is simple. All other things being equal, the price increases as supply of the particular good decreases. Alternatively, all things being equal, the price decreases as supply increases. Similarly, all else being equal, the price of the good increases as demand increases. And the price decreases as demand goes down.
That is the law of supply and demand.
An old joke goes that a national leader once wanted to repeal the law of supply and demand. The joke exposes ignorance of how markets behave.
Yet, our senators do not properly understand the basics of supply and demand. Consider their position on the pork shortage.
A bill seeking to nullify President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to lift the cap on pork imports has earned the nod of various agricultural groups.
Progressive groups expressed their support for House Joint Resolution 137 that aims to immediately withdraw Executive Order 128 and reject the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) increase on pork as the Senate’s Committee of the Whole resumed its inquiry into the current pork supply dilemma.
In a joint statement, stakeholders of the local pork industry said that “[EO 128] will bankrupt, beyond recovery, thousands of Filipino hog raisers as government support for the sector remains wanting.”
The group – composed of 14 national organizations of farmers, hog raisers, consumers, veterinarians, and agricultural workers – added that the order will also cause the government to lose at least P13.5 billion ($281 million) in revenues, while the promise of lowering the retail price of pork is unassured.
Published May 3, 2021, 3:49 PM
Hog raisers and agriculture stakeholders have thrown their support for the adoption of House Joint Resolution No. 37 calling for the termination of Executive Order No. 128 issued by President Duterte to temkporarily reduce import tariffs on pork.
At least 15 House members have signed HJR 37 but authors representing the Makabayan bloc expect more congressmen to support its adoption.
Hog raisers and agriculture stakeholders issued a statement on the issue which they submitted to the Lower House and the Senate.
In the statement, they urged legislators to “repeal EO 128” and recall the move to increase by 350,000 metric tons the Minimum Access Volume on pork.
US questioning of PH agri import permits is out of line The Manila Times
AS if the Duterte administration didn’t already have enough to worry about with domestic actors trying to scuttle its recent efforts to manage agricultural imports to ensure food security, the US government has raised an entirely new issue with a complaint about the way the Philippines manages sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances (SPS-IC).
An SPS-IC is a clearance issued by the Department of Agriculture (DA) through the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) or Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) for imports to certify that these are free from pests or diseases that could harm the country’s agriculture sector or pose a risk to public health.