URDANETA CITY–The Abono party-list, which represents the agricultural sector, welcomed the inquiry being conducted by the House of Representatives on the incentives granted to a Thai company for a P2.32 billion integrated poultry project.

The company, Charoen Pokphand Foods Philippines Corp. (CPFPC), was also previously granted a permit to engage in hog farming by the Board of Investments (BOI).

The new poultry project will involve parent stock farms in Tarlac and Pangasinan as well as six broiler forms in Bulacan and Nueva Ecija to begin operations in February 2013.

Abono party-list Chairman and Swine Development Council Director Rosendo So, who has been invited to the December 4 investigation to be conducted by the Special Committee on Food Security and the Committee on Food and Agriculture of the House of Representatives, said the incentives granted to the Thai firm will negatively impact on the local hog and poultry industry.

GUANLAO’S SPEECH

The congressional inquiry springs from the November 28 privilege speech delivered by Rep. Agapito Guanlao entitled: The Charoen Pokphand Firm and the Board of Investments: Murdering the local hog and poultry industry.

Guanlao, in his privilege speech, said he is saddened by the BOI’s preference to protect a foreign investor that will directly compete with a struggling local hog and poultry industry.

Guanlao said he is angered that while the Department of Agriculture is doing its best in protecting and reviving the local hog and poultry industry, the BOI on the other hand is putting the industry “in a deadly quicksand”.

So, for his part, said the BOI did not consult stakeholders of the poultry industry in granting a permit to CPFPC.–Eva Visperas

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