Agriculture Secretary William Dar and Quezon governor David Suarez today (February 16), along with ‘One DA’ family and local government officials, witnessed the arrival of 1,350 head of hogs from General Santos City (GenSan) and South Cotabato that form part of the “whole-of-nation” measures to increase the supply of pork and reduce prices in Metro Manila.

The hogs, kept in 13 trucks on board a “Ro-Ro” vessel that sailed from GenSan on February 14, arrived in Talao-Talao Port, Lucena City.

“Majority of the shipment, totaling 875 hogs, came from Q Pigs and Wilco Farms in GenSan and South Cotabato,” Secretary Dar said.

Last week, more than 26 metric tons of live hogs were also shipped from GenSan courtesy of the Koronadal Valley Livestock Growers Cooperative.

The live hog shipments continue to pass through a “special hog lane,” the DA chief said, allowing the unhampered transport and delivery to government-certified slaughterhouses, and will be sold at Metro Manila public markets, following the imposed price ceiling of pork from P270/kg to P300/kg under Executive Order 124.

As of today, more than 38,000 live hogs and 150,167 kg of carcass have been shipped to Metro Manila from ASF-free areas nationwide, with Region 4A (Calabarzon) sharing 50 percent. ### (Adora Rodriguez, DA-AFID)