The Department of Agriculture (DA) said the country’s first border facility is now ready to begin construction after the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) and Manila International Container Port (MICP) cleared the P500-million project with completion eyed by end of the year.
In a news statement issued on Thursday, Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said the DA is set to establish the first Agricultural Commodity Examination Area (ACEA) at the Manila International Container Terminal, South Harbor, Port of Manila this year.
Four other ACEAs will be constructed by the DA next year in the ports of Cebu, Batangas, Subic and Davao, DA National Livestock Program Director Ruth Miclat-Socano said.
In a separate news statement, the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI) urged the government to fast-track the construction of the ACEA to help in “arresting massive spread of African swine fever [ASF]-infected meat” in the country.
“ASF as we know comes from outside of our country. We are very strict and compliant with all protocols in our movements from within our soil. Yet we failed in the First Border on what is coming into our country,” Roger V. Navarro, president of Philippine Maze Federation Inc., a member of PCAFI, said.
“We are told there are obstacles to implement the First Border Control facility due to pending approval from the Philippine Ports Authority to give the area. So we are calling on PPA and the Department of Transportation [DOTr] to cooperate and help,” Navarro added.
PCAFI noted that the construction of the ACEA is long overdue. The construction of the ACEAs was approved in a December 2019 Cabinet meeting.
In October last year, DA revealed that “legal and logistical barriers” were delaying the construction of the ACEA as it pointed out that “Building a government structure in a privately operated congested port area is not an overnight task to accomplish.”
At that time, DA was still identifying the 2,000-square- meter area for the construction of the ACEA.
Nonetheless, the DA said it has been coordinating with concerned offices, such as the PPA, International Container Terminal Services Inc., and the Asian Terminals Inc., to fast-track the process.
The DA also said last year that it has started the groundwork for the establishment of other ACEA facilities at the international ports of Subic, Batangas, Cebu, and Davao.
“The first border inspection facility will serve as a one-stop shop for regulatory inspections of imported agricultural product, and a common facility for the DA’s Bureaus of Plant Industry [BPI], of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources [BFAR], and Bureau of Animal Industry to prevent the entry of animal, fish, and plant diseases into the country,” it added.
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