The Department of Agriculture (DA) said pork shipments from nearby provinces to Metro Manila are still ongoing to address the commodity’s high price and demand, but only the regions with surpluses can conduct such deliveries.

“Due to the insufficient supply of hogs in Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Regions 1, 2, 8, and 13, no deliveries are expected from these areas,” the DA said in a Memorandum for the Secretary shared to reporters on Monday.

Before the implementation of the 60-day price ceiling on meat products in Metro Manila, Congress asked whether the provinces delivering to parts of the National Capital Region (NCR) will risk lowering their supply for the distribution efforts initiated by DA.

The Agriculture agency made deals with hog raisers with big productions such as in Soccksargen Region to regularly deliver to Metro Manila public markets to ensure a stable supply.

Meanwhile, the DA data also showed that Regions 5, 6, 7, 9 and BARMM ( Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) were not able to transport for March 7.

“Bicol Region has no issuance of shipping permit during weekends while Zamboanga Peninsula has no issuance of Animal Health Certificates for live swine bound to NCR,” it said.

As of 5 p.m. on Sunday, a total of 2,625 hogs and 40,803 kilograms of carcasses from various regions were delivered to Metro Manila.

The largest number of hog deliveries came from Calabarzon Region, particularly the provinces of Batangas, Rizal and Quezon, with 2,079 hogs or 79 percent of the total deliveries on Sunday.

This was followed by Mimaropa with 403 hogs from Oriental Mindoro.

The shipment of 120 hogs that departed from Northern Mindanao last March 4, also arrived on Sunday.

On top of 23 live hogs from Tarlac, Central Luzon was able to transport 40,803 kilograms of carcasses to Metro Manila.

Soccksargen Region has also shipped 630 heads that are expected to arrive on March 9, while a total of 488 heads from Northern Mindanao and Davao Region will be arriving Monday (March 8) in various slaughterhouses before distribution to Metro Manila.

The National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) reported that for March 6, a total of 6,563 hogs were slaughtered that produced 445,461.40 kilograms of meat.