Regulators urged: Revisit meat permit issuance

Bureau of Customs (BOC) Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon has called on the Department of Agriculture (DA) and other regulatory offices of the government to revisit their process of issuing importation permits to effectively combat rampant meat smuggling in the country, saying the bureau cannot do it alone.

For decades, the local market has been flooded with cheap smuggled pork and poultry and agricultural products months before the Christmas season, depriving the government of millions of pesos in duties and taxes and putting local farmers at a disadvantage.