DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines – The Abono Party-list urged the government over the weekend to strictly guard against over-importation of meat products which it claimed may result in the collapse of the P200-billion hog and poultry industry.

In a media forum the other day, Abono Chairman Rosenro So said the government must adopt stringent measures to address the problem of alleged over-importation and smuggling of meat products.

“Hindi lang importation kundi pati smuggling ang problema (It’s not just overimportation; the problem is smuggling,” said So.

Last year, the country imported some 2.5 billion metric tons of meat products or 20 percent more than what the country needs, said So.

Because of over-importation plus smuggling of chicken products, the live weight now of chicken is only P80. “Lugi na ang mga local producers natin ng higit pa sa P10,” he noted. The live weight price runs from P92 to P98.

He also said the country has been losing money because of technical smuggling. Because the tariff for entrails (intestines and other internal organs) is only five percent, unscrupulous traders declare their imports as such although the goods are actually “good meat.”

“Hindi kinakain ng mga Amerikano yong mga lamang-loob pero itinatapon dito,” he said, noting that Filipinos are fond of eating intestines and other internal parts of chicken. He said that X-ray machines of the Bureau of Customs could not determine good meat from entrails so that traders take advantage of the situation by not declaring their actual imports. He also disclosed that only 10 percent of the import is being inspected. “Sa 100 containers mga sampu lang ang na-iinspect.”

He said that the Customs bureau and industry stakeholders held a summit in Cebu recently due to the growing problem of over-importation of meat as well as smuggling in that area. “Huwag namang sobra kundi mamamatay ang industriya,” he said.