Traders hold pig holiday to protest imports

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Hog traders are implementing a three-day “pig holiday,” or a temporary suspension of the sale of pork, to protest the imports affecting the industry.

In a 24 Oras report from Bernadette Reyes, the traders had already implemented the first day on Thursday.

“Gusto nating ipakita 'yung sitwasyon na wala ng karneng sariwang baboy sa palengke. 'Pag nakita nila 'yan, ‘ah, ito pala ang mangyayari kapag naubos ang mag-aalaga ng baboy,’ said Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines chairperson and AGAP Party-list Representative Nicanor Briones.

(We want to show our situation that there is no fresh pork in the wet market anymore. If they see that, ‘ah this is what will happen if the pig livestock runs out.)

According to the Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines, the industry is losing P350 million a day or P7,000 per pig head because of frozen pork coming from abroad.

However, several wet markets are not feeling the effects of the pig holiday.

“Nakikipag-coordinate naman yung boss ko sa DA (Department of Agriculture)... priority na we see to it na may supply araw-araw,” Poblacion Public Market Master Eva Araullo said. (We are coordinating with my boss at the DA… it is our priority that we see to it that there is a supply every day.)

It was also business as usual for Balintawak Market and the Marikina Public Market.

Sellers at a wet market in Mangaldan, Pangasinan also did not participate.

“Yung mga suki namin, ayaw lumayo. Tatlong araw 'yon, 'di kaya,” trader Marilou Velasquez said. (Our customers do not want to go far. That would be three days, we cannot.)

This was just the first day of the pig holiday. On the second holiday, traders will hold a protest in front of the DA.

However, the group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) will not partake in the protest. Instead, they will appeal to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. directly.

“Lagpas na ito sa kamay ng DA, ang laban na ito nasa kamay na at nasa antas na ng Pangulo natin at ng kanyang mga economic managers,” SINAG Executive Director Jay Cainglet said.

(This is beyond the DA, this fight is in the hands of the President and his economic managers.)

The DA said that it understood the sentiments of the hog traders, but its hands were tied.

“Hindi namin basta-basta ma-control yan sa DA dahil those are under World Trade Organization agreements and bilateral agreements that were made before my time,” DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said.

(The DA could not just control that because those are under World Trade Organization agreements and bilateral agreements that were made before my time.)

The DA has already spoken with the Tariff Commission to return the tariffs on hogs. The agency is also studying the temporary suspension of hog imports for two months starting in November 2026. —Jean Mangaluz/LDF, GMA News