(NEWS CLIPPINGS) As the Philippines deals with a shrinking supply of pork another problem arises with a local group of

boiler raisers warning of a looming shortage of chicken.

Pork prices continue to rise the match the cost of beef, here in Mega Q Mart, pork ham or Pata now costs 340 pesos a kilo
400 pesos for pork loin and as high as 450 pesos per kilo of liempo or pork belly.

Pork holiday or boycott sa pagtitinda ng baboy ang posibleng mangayari sa nakatakdang pagpapatupad sa price ceiling sa
karneng baboy sa lunes maari nga raw kasing aayaw muna ang mga pork retailer sa pagtinda ng baboy dahil wala na nga
kasi silang kikitain, mapaparusahan pa sila sakaling hindi sumunod sa price ceiling.

Pork retailers at the Mega Q Mart complain their customers now prefer imported meat. That's after prices of local pork
once again increased by 20 to 30 pesos to as much as 430 pesos a kilo. Imported pork are now sold in wet markets, and it's
cheaper by around 100 pesos a kilo.

My name is Donald Perez.

Every time we watch news on TV, increasing food prices is always on the headline. Switching channels still bring you the
same topic. So for ma 500 methods of research subject, I am presenting a video about food prices.

My assignment is to make a video presentation report of the article critique and article I have chosen is the one written by
Mr. Ralf Rivas entitled, EXPLAINER: WHY FOOD COSTS ARE RISING AND PRICE CEILING MAY NOT WORK.

The article was published by rappler on February 8 2021. Now let's go over the article and do our critic after.

problems even before the pandemic bite the government in 2021. Here is a rundown of the various issues pushing up food
prices amid the Coronavirus crisis. In what may be a called a perfect storm, Metro Manila residents are not only facing a
pandemic, they are also struggling to buy food and find jobs. Farmers in rural areas had to deal with African swine fever,
and tropical cyclones that wiped out their crops in the last quarter of 2020.

“Stagflation” or what economists refer to as a period of sluggish economic growth and rising cost of
living, has shown its horns early on in 2021, and may likely stay for a while if the government does not
act fast. Here's a rundown of why prices went up, what the government has done to tame inflation, and
what farmers have experienced during the coronavirus pandemic.
What caused prices to go up?

Pork. A kilo of pork surged to as high as P400, around the same price of beef. 
Hog raisers said this was due to African swine fever (ASF), which hit the country back in September
2019.
According to Rosendo So, chairman of the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG), the industry
lost some 5.8 million heads, equivalent to around P135 billion in losses, due to ASF.
Nicanor Briones of the Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines (ProPork) said hog
raisers had to drastically cut supply as they dealt with the massive losses. They had to reduce
supply further when restaurants closed mid-March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Briones said it takes around 5 to 6 months to raise a pig, which means raisers who lost hogs in the ASF
outbreak could not immediately bounce back.
Chicken. The price of whole chicken reached P190 to P200 per kilo.
This is partly due to consumers eating more chicken now as a source of protein, with pork prices
surging.
Before pork prices spiked, the chicken industry faced problems with oversupply, as demand went down
due to restaurant closures.
After the oversupply in 2020, the industry is now holding back supply amid increased demand, causing
the rise in prices.
Vegetables. Prices of vegetables surged by 21.2% last January, according to the Philippine Statistics
Authority.
This is still due to the effects of the tropical cyclones during the last quarter of 2020, spilling over to
2021.
The overall inflation for January reached 4.2%, breaching the government target of 2% to 4%.
What has the government done?

Price ceiling. President Rodrigo Duterte issued Executive Order No. 124 on February 1, imposing a 60-
day price ceiling on pork at P270 per kilo for kasim or pigue (ham), P300 per kilo for liempo (pork belly),
and P160 per kilo for dressed chicken.
Prior to this, the Department of Agriculture (DA) released suggested retail prices of similar range.
So far, these efforts have not been helpful, since the current supply in wet markets had been produced
at significantly higher rates. The price ceiling, vendors said, is simply too low and they would be forced
to sell at a great loss.
SINAG's So said the acceptable retail price of pork is from P330 to P380 per kilo.
With a price ceiling set too low for vendors and producers, triggering a so-called "pork holiday," the
situation could lead to a supply shortage. Some vendors stopped selling pork on Monday, February 8.
Probing middlemen. The Department of Justice ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to probe
the spike in pork prices amid allegations of market manipulation.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar said traders are the ones manipulating prices, since the break-even
point for selling pork is only around P105 per kilo, which is far from the retail price of P400.
However, ProPork's Briones countered Dar's claims, arguing that it was the DA's lack of action during
the ASF outbreak that caused the price surge.
"Naghahanap lang ng masisisi si Secretary Dar. Hindi nila kami natulungan sa ASF, ito ang
epekto," Briones said.
(Secretary Dar is just looking for someone to blame. This is the result of them not helping us combat
ASF.)
So also questioned where Dar got his figure, as farmgate prices now, he said, are at around P170 in
Mindanao.
Farmgate prices in Luzon are at around P200 to P220 per kilo, according to So.
Rewarding imports. The DA is proposing to triple the minimum access volume (MAV) or the number of
allowable pork imports with lower tariffs from 54,000 metric tons to 162,000 metric tons.
Should this push through, more pork imports would be imposed tax of 5% instead of 30%.
While Briones agrees that there is a need for more imports this time, he strongly opposes lowering
tariffs.
"Tanggap namin na kailangan ng imports para bumaba ang presyo. Pero kailangan pa rin ang taripa
kasi dapat ang makokolekta, 'yun ang gagamiting suporta para sa lokal na industriya," he said.
(We accept that we need imports now to lower prices. But we still need the tariffs because those
revenues to be collected should be used to help the local industry.)
Addressing ASF. The DA said it is doubling down pig repopulation efforts through the development of an
ASF vaccine, as well as stricter lockdown measures.
The DA is also offering zero-interest loans to meat vendors who are struggling to comply with the price
ceiling.
"This will enable them to buy pork carcasses directly from hog raisers and major agricultural
commodities from farmers' cooperatives and associations, and sell these at reasonable prices to
consumers in Metro Manila," said Dar.
SINAG's Jayson Cainglet, however, doubts that the DA can swiftly implement these measures.
"'Yung na-ASF nga na raisers since 2019, hindi pa bayad. Hindi naman kailangang mangutang, may
hanapbuhay 'yung mga vendors na ginulo niya," he said.
(The raisers affected by ASF have yet to receive the aid promised in 2019. Vendors don't need to get
loans, they have their livelihood which the DA ruined.) – Rappler.com

That is the end of the article. And now, let us proceed with our critic.

Let us start with the citation of the article

the title: explainer why food costs are rising and price ceilings may not work.

rising food costs is estimated to the ASF causing low supply and high production costs. However, there is no concrete reason
provided why price ceiling may not work, except for an argument that it is too low, resulting losses to vendors. So the
problem is really not the adoption of price ceiling, but rather the amount of the government mandated ceiling

Date publish. This article was published by rappler on February 8 2021,

which is just in time when prices started rising. While it was published three months ago, we are still indulging with the
price increase with no end in sight. The timing of the publishing is just right, And that makes it relevant
Pages. This is five pages article, it may be short, but just enough to send a message without getting the reader bored.

Author. Mr. Ralph Rivas, is a sociologist by heart, a journalist by profession.

Ralph is Rappler’s business reporter covering macro economy, government finance companies, and agriculture.

He has the right qualification to write this article.

Now, let us evaluate the research techniques or methodologies used in writing this article.

First, is through interviews or quoted statements from the people who are considered experts or involved in the whole
process which includes Mr. Rosendo So, chairman of the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura or SINAG, proclaims that the
industry losses due to ASF is around 135 billion.

Mr Nicanor Briones of the Pork Producers Federation Of The Philippines or (ProPork), said that hograisers had to drastically
cut supply due to massive losses and reduced supply run farther when restaurant close to Coronavirus.

Vendors. Who claims that the price ceiling is just too low and they will be forced to sell at a great loss.

Hog raisers. have claims that the increase in price was due to ASF.

And finally, Agriculture Secretary William Dar, who claims that the break even point for selling pork is only 105 pesos per
kilo.

It is simply an out of this world statement.

The second research technique or methodology used is observation.

interviews or statements which is supported by observation creates credibility, Or we can simply say that it can highlight
those who are saying the truth or not. Some of the observations are a kilo of pork surge to as high as 400 pesos around the
same price of beef.

The price of chicken reach 190 pesos to 200 pesos per kilo

Restaurants close due to Corona virus pandemic

Some vendors stop selling pork. This observation corroborates the statements of Mr. So, Mr. Briones, vendors, the hog
raisers, but not the statement of secretary Dar.

Hence, I find this research technique as acceptable

Strengths And Weaknesses Of Methodology Adopted

the strengths or advantages of interview research methodology includes

1. easy to validate you can directly confront the person if the statement published are true or not,
2. opinion from subject matter experts credibility of the statement can be vouch by his or her qualifications.
3. The third strength or advantage is views from those directly affected or involved.

Research or basis policies adapted his inputs from those directly affected should be heard, to counter act possible effects.

The weaknesses or disadvantages of interview as a research methodology includes

1. statement can be taken out of context presenting portions of the interview, send the unintended message.
2. Second disadvantage is unqualified government officials who are sleeping on the job. Wrong statement will lead to
wrong policies.

Research may not be a majority, only those who are affected or noisy oftentimes, the majority are silent.

Where the strengths and weaknesses of observation as a research methodology, its strengths includes
 1. visual evidence can easily convince, to see is to believe.
2. Does not rely on people's willingness to provide information

Weaknesses or disadvantages includes

1. it is not what it seems, sometimes what we see is not the truth, but rather fragments. It does not tell the whole
story.
2. the observations cannot stand alone as evidence. What we observed needs to be supported by statements, surveys
or numbers to make sense.

I would like to end my presentation, with this quote: even though supply and demand, behave in a predictable way that in
the models or best way that we've seen in the models, we can’t lose sight of the fact that both of them are reliant on
humans acting as buyers and sellers.

Don't be greedy. Ciao