Pangasinan towns ban sale of imported meat

DAGUPAN CITY-- The ban on the sale of imported frozen meat has snowballed in Pangasinan.

The provincial chapter of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines has passed a resolution urging all towns to pass an ordinance to combat the proliferation of illegal commodities in local markets, a party-list representative said last week. 

Abono party-list Rep. Rosendo So, quoting reports from Pangasinan, said Mayor Noel Nacar of Dasol town reported that the LMP-Pangasinan chapter passed a resolution urging all towns to ban the sale of imported frozen meat.

He said Dasol officials saw the need to pass the resolution because of the continued entry of undocumented frozen meat.

Nacar said health concerns and the effect of imported frozen meat on local industries have also been raised.

A number of municipalities in Pangasinan have already passed local legislation seeking to stop the sale of unsafe imported meat in local markets, as this would kill the livelihood of backyard hograisers and feed growers.

For one, in an ordinance, Mangaldan town “declared unlawful for any person or group of persons to trade imported meat of any kind in the public market of Mangaldan.”

The ordinance “covers meat entrepreneurs, capitalists and meat vendors supplying, selling meat and other poultry products within the Mangaldan public market.”

Officials of Urdaneta City, also in Pangasinan, in Resolution No. 156-2012, said, “It has been the experience of most of our constituents that, more often than not, the sale of frozen meat in the markets of Urdaneta City, results in several diseases and infections among the consumers because of the frequent (blackouts) as a consequence of which is the contamination of bacteria in the frozen meat.” 

So said the move of Pangasinan officials “only shows that the BOC (Bureau of Customs) is not doing its job to stop smuggling, or its personnel may be coddling the smugglers or unscrupulous importers and traders of these contraband.”

The Pangasinan towns of Pozzorobio, Sison, and San Nicolas also plan to ban the sale of imported meat in their public markets.