MANILA, Philippines—Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Monday (March 15) revealed what he said was a racket within the Department of Agriculture (DA) that would bring in as much as P6 billion in kickbacks from the proposal to increase the volume of imported pork products and reduce tariff with African swine fever infestation as a smokescreen.
According to Lacson, a syndicate inside the DA was bound to increase its payoff from the “tongpats”, or kickback, scheme with the proposed increase in the minimum access volume (MAV) for imported pork to as much as 400,000 metric tons, and the reduction in tariffs to as low as 5 percent.
“What is happening is really disgusting, because I wonder if these…
Keep on reading: Lacson bares P6B ‘tongpats’ scheme in pork importation