GOVERNOR Eugenio Jose Lacson warned traders against price manipulation and of taking advantage amid high prices of pork and chicken.
"Don't take advantage of the situation. Moderate income should be enough," Lacson said Tuesday, February 2.
He also clarified that the local prices of meat products increased not because there is lack of supplies but because of these traders.
The governor added that Manila buyers who go to Negros to buy their meat supply buy high and when it reaches the markets, "their profits have more than doubled."
President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday, February 1, signed Executive Order 124, imposing a 60-day freeze in the prices of pork and chicken in Metro Manila.
It was learned that the order will take effect after the 15-day publication but Lacson revealed that the order has already affected and that the local price has been reduced to P20 per kilo for live pigs based on the testimonies of commercial hog raisers who supply pork to Metro Manila buyers.
Lacson reassured that the province has enough supply of pork and chicken as well.
Dr. Renante Decena, provincial veterinarian, said that Negros Occidental has a surplus of 15,000 heads of swine every month.
In fact, he revealed that live swine in the province is priced at P150 per kilo from backyard raisers and P180 per kilo from commercial raisers.
Unlike the high price of pork in Bacolod City, which is at P260 per kilo, out of town, like in Isabela town, pork price is at P190 per kilo, as well as in some areas with enough supply like Murcia, Kabankalan, Moises Padilla and the fourth district.
Decena said enough supply of pork is due to the genetic improvement introduced by the province in previous years.
Daily consumption of swine in the province he said is about 1,000 heads daily.