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PH nautical highway and Maharlika Highway in Luzon designated special hog lanes to guarantee unhampered transport of hog shipments from Visayas and Mindanao
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Move seeks to avert pork and poultry shortages in Metro Manila and greater Luzon due to African swine fever
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Malacañang eyes executive order setting price ceiling for pork and chicken
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) has designated the country’s nautical highway and the Maharlika Highway in Luzon as special hog lanes to guarantee unhampered transport of hog shipments from Visayas and Mindanao.
The move seeks to avert pork and poultry shortages in Metro Manila and greater Luzon due to the African swine fever (ASF). There are widespread reports that pork and poultry prices have skyrocketed due to adverse effects of the ASF on supply.
IATF Resolution 97 “approved the recommendation of the National Task Force Against COVID-19 Task Group on Food Security in ensuring the unhampered passage of hog shipment from the Visayas and Mindanao, while preventing the spread of the African swine fever and observing all science-based precautionary and quarantine measures,” according to Presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. in an online briefing on Jan 29.
The IATF resolution will be jointly implemented by the department of Agriculture, Interior and Local Government, and Trade and Industry, he added.
Rosendo So, chair of Samahan ng Industriyang Agrikultura, on Jan 29 claimed ASF has decimated 90 percent of Pangasinan’s total hog supply last year.
Roque said earlier government is prepared to impose price control on products exhibiting elevated prices. To alleviate supply issues in Luzon, pork and poultry will be sourced from Visayas, Mindanao and other areas unaffected by the ASF.
Malacañang is finalizing an executive order for signing by President Rodrigo Duterte shortly setting the price ceiling for pork kasim at P270 per kilo, P300 for pork liempo, and P160 for chicken.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar is expected to appear at a House of Representatives hearing on Feb. 2 to explain why prices of pork and other basic goods are on the rise.
