Why the haste

The seeming haste with which the local Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared Turkish flour being imported into the country from claims that it is unfit and unsafe for human consumption has cast doubts as to the reliability of such assurance from government.

FDA acting director Nazarita Tacandong’s proclamation last April 15 that the Turkish flour now flooding the market is safe to eat may have come in too early considering that the tests so far conducted by the agency are just preliminary, as she herself admitted together with Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral.

The least that the FDA should have done is tell Filipinos that claims that the imported Turkish flour contains dangerous levels of cancer-causing substances called mycotoxins are still unsubstantiated until further tests are conducted, without necessarily telling the Filipino public that it is safe. Or better yet, wait for the results of the more rigorous tests being issuing any advisory.

After all, with the amount of flour-containing food products that we consume daily, Tacandong’s statement seems highly irresponsible. What if people rely on her April 15 advisory which will turn out later to be false? We are talking about putting the Filipino population, young and old, at risk, for Christ sake.

Some sectors have also started to question the delay in the release to the public of the results of the initial test by the DOH and the FDA on Turkish flour when the Turkish Embassy was reportedly furnished a copy a week earlier.

According to the DOH and FDA, using the Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) test, the mycotoxins found on Turkish flour were within the allowable limits, meaning that true, they contain toxins but not sufficient to cause cancer.

Surely, there are other sources of flour that do not contain mycotoxins of any level.

The maximum allowable limit is said to be 15 parts per billion (ppb) while two Turkish flour brands have 3.46 ppb and 3.85 ppb, respectively.

But again, this ELISA test is just preliminary. There is the more reliable high-pressure liquid chromatography method (HPLC) which may yield a different result.

The price at which Turkish flour is entering the local market has also raised serious questions. At $186 per metric ton, flour is even cheaper than Turkish wheat which is selling for $220 per ton. Which doesn’t make sense because it takes around 1.3 tons of wheat to make one ton of flour, excluding cost of production.

The only reason why a raw material could be cheaper than the finished product is if these Turkish floor is being dumped into our country because nobody wants it.

Let us hope that our own FDA puts the interest and safety of the Filipino consuming public above those of foreign businessmen.

Smear campaign

The public is really getting tired of the Philippine Liner and Shipping Association of the Philippines (PLSA) throwing brickbats at the new operator of the Manila North Harbor.

After all, everybody seems to know or suspect the real motives behind the smear campaign being waged against the takeover by the Manila North Harbour Port Inc. (MNHPI).

Since the North Harbor used to be managed and operated by the Philippine Port Authority (PPA), saying that the port was inefficient and badly managed could be an understatement. Inefficiency breeds corruption. Transferring management of the port from the government to the private sector is not easy. Some vested interests could have been displaced.

The PLSA recently accused MNHPI of failing to provide enough equipment to handle cargoes from ships berthed at some of the piers. However, this turned out to be unfounded since the company has already complied with the requirements set by the PPA.

According to MNHPI, it has already delivered 159 pieces of heavy and medium sized equipment needed to hasten the delivery of service at North Harbor. The delivery of heavy equipment has been monitored and checked by the PPA prior the takeover of the port last April 12.

Next stop: PLSA argues that the equipment does not conform with the standards set by the PPA. But if the PPA says the equipment delivered by MNHPI meet the standards set the agency, then what basis does PLSA have to say it does not?

The public is pissed off by this black propaganda being waged against MNHPI’s take over of North Harbor. And why? Because North Harbor was literally coming from nothing. The port was dilapidated, ill-equipped, antiquated, inefficient. Government did not have the funds to revive it and make it at least decent. Here comes the private sector ready to spend billions of pesos to modernize Manila North Harbor and convert it into a world-class facility. MNHPI was North Harbor’s knight in shining armor, so to speak.

As a stakeholder in the development and modernization of North Harbor, PLSA should support the privatization effort, instead of letting crab mentality get in the way of progress.

Some say PLSA is motivated in its actions against MNHPI by its desire to continue controlling North Harbor as its fiefdom. But if its members have controlled the country’s busiest port for decades now, then they should also be blamed for not having introduced any developments there. True, some PLSA members submitted their bids for the contract to manage and operate North Harbor but lost. Some are even behind the recent sea mishaps which could have been avoided had their owners been responsible enough. But now that a winner has been proclaimed and the port turned over to it, shouldn’t they start accepting defeat like real gentlemen and support efforts to develop North Harbor which they themselves use?

True, the security measures being implemented by MNHPI now are much more stringent, but it’s for the good of passengers and merchants, most of who have complained in the past of missing baggage and lost cargoes. After all, North Harbor was the favorite hangout of criminal elements, including the notorious Buriki Gang. PLSA members opposing the privatization will surely experience a hard time adjusting to the new style of management at North Harbor, unless they accept the fact that change had to happen.

Anybody who has used North Harbor’s facilities for both passenger and cargo purposes knows that the Filipino people have everything to gain and nothing to lose from the port’s privatization.

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