Agriculture Secretary William Dar has expressed gratitude to private sector partners in the hog and poultry sectors for their active role in stabilizing supply and prices of the commodities in Metro Manila, thus ensuring accessible and affordable food for consumers.
“This early, the Department of Agriculture (DA), along with other concerned government agencies, is pleased to see the smooth implementation of the price ceiling on pork and poultry products in Metro Manila since Monday, despite the threat of a ‘pork holiday’,” said Secretary Dar.
“None of this will be possible without the help of partners from the private sector, who stepped up and provided the much needed support in order to bring the commodities to consumers at a reasonable price,” he added.
“For this, we cannot thank enough our partners such as San Miguel Corp., SM Markets, North Star, Bounty Fresh, Pro Pork, National Federation of Hog Farmers, Inc., Biotech Farms, SOCOSPA, PILMICO, UNAHCO, BEPCO, farmers’ cooperatives and associations (FCAs), and hog raisers in Mindanao, Visayas, and ASF-free areas in Luzon,” the DA chief said.
“We can really say that they are our partners in our whole-of-nation approach in beating the pandemic and achieving our inclusive economic recovery efforts,” he added.
On February 9, the second day of the implementation of the price ceiling, secretary Dar — along with trade secretary Ramon Lopez, MMDA chair Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos, Jr., QC Mayor Joy Belmonte and Mandaluyong City Mayor Menchie Abalis — inspected meat stalls at Commonwealth market in Quezon City and SM Hypermart in Mandaluyong City, were the price cap was complied with.
“Despite some vendors and traders going on a pork holiday last Monday, we can see that business is picking up in the National Capital Region with initial hog deliveries from Mindanao, Visayas and Luzon, enabling market retailers to comply with the ceiling prices of pork, and with enough profit margin,” Secretary Dar said.
“Based on the initial outcome of our interventions, and with the help of the private sector, we can say that we were able to hurdle the ‘artificial shortage’ that detractors wanted to create,” Dar said.
“Lahat tayo ay nakakaranas ng paghihirap ngayong panahon ng pandemya. Malaki man o maliit na negosyo ay apektado. Alam din natin na kailangang kumita, pero ‘wag namang sobra,” he added.
“We commend SMC president Ramon S. Ang for supporting our cause, setting the wholesale prices of their pork and chicken products for wet markets at ‘least cost’ to allow distributors and resellers to make reasonable profits,” the DA chief said.
Ang said that “as a leading food manufacturer, we have a responsibility to the consumers. We want to make sure that the objective of the order is met, and that is to make pork and poultry products still within reach of many Filipinos.”
He said that SMC’s commitment to the Duterte government, through the Department of Agriculture, and our countrymen, is that “we will deliver goods to our wet market distributors at the least cost. This way, they can pass these on to resellers at still favorable prices, and they can still profit while keeping to the price caps.”
He ordered San Miguel Foods to expand its distribution and wet market presence so it can help stabilize supply of meat products and keep their prices down to benefit more Filipinos.
Finally, Secretary Dar said the DA will conduct a food security summit to discuss and address current and emerging agriculture and fishery issues, in response to recent calls by pork and poultry producers for consultations.
He said that this year’s national food security summit is a sequel to the earlier dialogue with agriculture and industry stakeholders, the private sector and chief local executives, held at the Land Bank of the Philippines, in Manila, on October 29 to 30, 2020. ### (DA StratComms)
