A GROUP of meat manufacturers has expressed alarm over what it called a subtle but well-orchestrated attempt initiated by vested groups to provoke a crisis and destabilize the economy by spreading false or misleading information and blame the Department of Agriculture (DA) for it.
In a letter sent recently to Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar, the Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (PAMPI) said such groups have been lobbying with the DA and politicians to ban the importation of meat products and have gone all-out, even to the media, to present their demands.
According to PAMPI, the vested groups of poultry producers were criticizing the importation of raw materials which in the first place has enabled members of PAMPI to produce processed meat products that fed millions of Filipinos during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) period.
“In our case, we present our position to the proper regulatory agencies such as the Bureau of Animal Industry, the National Meat Inspection Service or the Food and Drug Administration as the case may be. But when our case is sustained as in the case of the MDM importation, we hear malicious insinuations of graft allegedly in connivance with regulatory officials,” says PAMPI president Felix O. Tiukinhoy Jr. in the letter.
“We are a transparent and straightforward organization and we do not condone graft. But we deplore bullying of officials in the DA, BAI, NMIS or any regulatory body for that matter who are unable to answer back because norms of government conduct require them not only to be not onion-skinned but also to exercise maximum tolerance as well,” Tiukinhoy said.
PAMPI clarified that it has no issue with the meat importation data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, which were presented to the DA.
“We also use the same data to argue our case. But we do have divergent conclusions arising from such data. It’s a chicken-and-egg situation which should be addressed dispassionately by all stakeholders,” PAMPI said.
Tiukinhoy said PAMPI members undertook initiatives and interventions to make governance more tolerable for the people during these difficult times.
“Since March when ECQ was declared, the meat product imports that are being demanded to be banned by a group of poultry lobbyists enabled our industry to produce processed meat products that feed millions of our people up to today even as we write you this letter,” he said.
“COVID-19 and the ECQ that followed put all businesses at a standstill, including our industry. However, at the behest of the national government through IATF, we were asked to produce whatever we could to stock the national food relief program. So instead of furloughing our employees, we asked them to report for work to man the production lines at the risk of being infected by the disease,” said Tiukinhoy.
“Indeed, we want to humbly say that the meats that are being sought to be banned have become part of the solution that prevented food riots from happening which critics of the government had wished for,” he said./PN
