(Eagle News) — The Department of Agriculture should be investigated for alleged anomalies in the pricing of pork imports, according to the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG), a group of farmers and others involved in the agriculture sector.
SINAG chair Rosendo So said that they think there is a “tara system” in the DA since the price of imported pork only has a landed cost of P106 per kilo within the 30 percent tariff the past four months. If the cold storage and handling fees of P10 per kilo, and importers’ mark-up of P30 per kilo, then the cost per kilo should only be P146 per kilo. With the additional mark-up fee of betweeb 20 to 30 percent for retailers, the price per kilo of imported pork should only be less than P200, according to So.
But the retail price of imported pork being sold in the markets is P300 to P400 per kilo, he noted.
“Medyo nakakasama ng loob na mataas pa rin ang presyo. Ang alam natin dapat mas mababa ang presyo ng imported. Dapat maimbestigahan ito,” he said in an interview over the NET25 program “Balitalakayan.”
“Sa tingin namin may ‘tara system’ sa DA,” he said.
So said that any investigation to be done by the DA would be useless.
“Sa tingin namin, dapat magkaroon na ng deeper investigation dito sina Senator (Panfilo) Lacson,” he added referring to the earlier pronouncement of Senator Lacson expressing alarm about alleged anomalies in importation of pork by the DA.
(Eagle News Service)
