This ’’anomaly’’ will be probed by the Senate constituted into a Committee of the Whole following a disclosure by Senator Panfilo M. Lacson that government would loss billions of pesos in revenues over a questionable pork importation.
Lacson said a group operating inside the Department of Agriculture would rake in billons of pesos on pork importation through ‘’tongpats’ should government allow the importation of 404,000 kilos of pork which far more than local demand and the reduction of tariff rates from 30-40 to five-10 percent.The probe on the alleged oversupply of chicken meat was sought by the Poultry Integrators of the Philippines.
The group complained that local refrigeration facilities accredited by the National Meat Inspection Service are full of imported chicken, crowding out local production.This was started when Executive Order 23 issued in 2017 reduced from to five percent from 40 percent tariff rate on mechanically-deboned meat of chicken.Importation of regular dressed chicken or chicken parts carries a higher tariff rate.