Senator Panfilo M. Lacson on Tuesday expressed his dismay over the track record of President Duterte for ignoring two resolutions expressing the sense of the Senate on two different issues during the current regular session.
Lacson made this observation after Malacanang stated that President Duterte would consider the recommendation of senators to recall his decision to reduce tariff rates on imported pork products.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in an online press briefing that the President listens to everyone, especially if all senators have a unified call.
Lacson stated that it is unfortunate that the Malacanang statement was published by Roque.
He stated that President Duterte’s record of caring about the collective sense of the Senate speaks for itself.
“We already expressed the sense of the Senate in at least two adopted resolutions and he did not only ignore them; he didn’t even take the time to discuss the issues with at least the senior officials of the Senate,’’ he said.
One of them is the call to the President to declare a State of Calamity while the pork industry is devastated by African swine influenza (ASF).
“I hope, more than taking time to examine the merits of the facts presented in the COW (Senate constituted as Committee of the Whole) hearing, he considers the plight of the dying backyard hog raisers and the foregone revenues that the government will deal with especially at this time of the pandemic,’’ he added.
Senators had questioned President Duterte’s executive order reducing the tariff rates on imported pork and increasing the volume of pork which they maintained vis a vis actual figures is too high.
Senator Imee Marcos stated that she opposed the massive importation of hogs.
Based on the proposed 404,000 metric tonnes of pork with lower tariff rates, this would result in a loss of revenue of $P14 billion that would be used to purchase COVID-19 vaccines.
The ASF epidemic left 2.5 million hog farmers bankrupt, she added.
