DA: Pork max SRP violators face NBI, PNP probes

MANILA, Philippines — The government may tap the services of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and Philippine National Police (PNP) to go after violators of the maximum suggested retail price (SRP) for pork products amid the measly 25 percent compliance, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said yesterday.

Agriculture spokesman Arnel de Mesa said that the DA is only being lenient to allow stakeholders to adjust and eventually comply with the max SRP for pork products.

“Of course, the DA will do what is provided under the law (in going after violators of max SRP),” De Mesa said.

De Mesa added that there is no reason for stakeholders not to comply with the max SRP as necessary consultations were conducted prior to its implementation.

“If you recall, this was a product of long consultations. We conducted several dialogues, more than a month before we implemented the max SRP on March 10. There was even a last consultation where there was a unanimous decision from the stakeholders, from the producers, traders and retailers to implement the P350 per kilo for pork shoulder and P380 per kilo for pork belly,” he said.

He said that under the cost structure, the farmgate price of producers is at P230 per kilo; a P70 per kilo additional cost will be imposed by traders and P50 per kilo for retailers.

“The DA will go back to that cost structure so that we can determine where the problem is coming from as we came up with the computation. The NBI and PNP will conduct similar investigations to determine who is abusing the agreement,” De Mesa said.

He said that while the compliance for the max SRP is 25 percent, it means that violators comprised 75 percent.

Onion max SRP

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. yesterday said that the DA is eyeing the possible imposition of maximum SRP on imported onions to ensure that the outsourced bulbs remain affordable following the decision to allow the importation of at least 4,000 metric tons (MT) of onions.

“For now, the retail price (of imported onions) is still reasonable but in case it will go up, then we are studying (the possible imposition of max SRP) on imported onions),” Tiu Laurel told The STAR.

Tiu Laurel has said that of the 4,000 MT of allowed volume for imported bulbs, 2,300 MT of imported red onions arrived and of the 1,000 MT of white onions, at least 986 MT of white bulbs entered the country.

Based on DA monitoring of Metro Manila markets, the retail price of local red onions ranged between P70 and P150 per kilo; local white onions, between P50 and P140 per kilo; and imported white onions, between P60 and P140 per kilo.