PRRD willing to recall EO reducing pork tariffs

MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday said he is willing to withdraw his executive order reducing pork tariffs as soon as there is an improvement in the country’s domestic supply.

In a pre-recorded meeting with Cabinet officials, Duterte said that he understood the sentiments of senators calling to revoke his executive order.

“I can understand from where the senators come from. There is also the domestic supply which they intend to protect and they are vehement about it because I think that – I think that they think that they are right,” he said.

He acknowledged that it was natural for senators to protect the local hog industry, but noted that his economic managers were in favor of Executive Order (EO) No. 128 to stabilize the prices of pork products.

Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua, in the same meeting, reiterated support for lower pork tariffs, emphasizing the need to address the deficiency in supply while bringing down the country’s inflation rate.

“We are in a Covid crisis right now. We can’t afford that people will have an income problem and a price problem,” Chua said.

Duterte, meanwhile, assured senators that the EO is temporary and could be lifted once prices of pork go down.

“Kung medyo malakas na ‘yong domestic market (Once the domestic market gets stronger) and there is a movement, madali lang naman eh (that’s easy) we can always withdraw the EO that I signed. just a temporary measure really to bring down the prices, but the senators see it in a different light,” he said.

Earlier, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte respects the power of Congress to withdraw or terminate his EO through a joint resolution.

“Nakikinig naman po ang Presidente. At alam naman po ng Presidente na sa ating Saligang Batas ang talagang mayroong primary jurisdiction pagdating sa taripa ay ang Kongreso (The President listens. And the President knows that the Constitution states that the Congress has primary jurisdiction when it comes to tariff rates),” Roque said in a virtual press briefing.

On Thursday, the Senate Committee of the Whole adopted a resolution asking Duterte to revoke EO 128 that reduces the tariff on pork importation over concerns that lower tariffs might kill the local hog industry.

Under EO 128, the tariff rate on pork imports within the minimum access volume (MAV) was reduced from the current rate of 30 percent to 5 percent for the first three months and to 10 percent for the next nine months. It will return to 30 percent tariff rate after 12 months.