SENATORS yesterday urged the government to develop and revitalize the country’s salt industry, which they said has slowly been dying through the years.
Sen. Cynthia Villar, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, noted that the Philippines used to produce around 240,000 MT of salt a year during the 1950s but the production slowly dwindled down through the years based on data from the Philippine Association of Salt Industry Networks (PASIN).
Records show the country only produced 38,875.82 MT of salt in 2016; 42,824.04 MT in 2017; 47,988.87 in 2018; 56,940.11 in 2019; and 43,749.72 MT in 2020.
Villar said the country’s salt industry started to boom when Commonwealth Act No. 141 or the Public Land Act of 1936 was enacted during the Roxas administration in 1936, which formally leased out public lands and foreshore areas into fishponds and salt farms in Pangasinan, Bulacan, Mindoro Occidental, Paranaque, Negros islands, Cebu, and other provinces.
“Salt producing areas in the Philippines reached an estimated peak of 5,000 hectares nationally, producing 240,000 metric tons annually. This boom in growth supported a growing population and the development of the salt industry in the 1960s and 1970s,” Villar said in her opening statement during the committee’s hearing on Senate Bill No. 1450 or the Salt Industry Development and Revitalization Act.
To support the salt industry, Villar said RA 8172, or the Act for Salt Iodization Nationwide (ASIN Law) was enacted in 1995, which required the addition of iodine to salt intended for human and animal consumption “to eliminate micronutrient malnutrition, particularly the iodine deficiency disorders in the country.”
She said the law mandated local government units to support development and sustainability of the salt industry through the formulation of ordinances and information campaigns to promote the availability and use of iodized salt, and the provision of budget for health and nutrition programs.
“The law, instead of promoting, became a deterrent in the development of the local salt industry. It has neglected new areas and invited new investors. It made all salt food grade,” Villar said.
“In 2021, it was reported that we only produced 7 percent of our salt requirements and imported 93 percent or 550,000 MT,” she added, also saying that the country imports 850,000 MT of salt mainly from Australia and China or 93 percent of the country’s salt requirements.
“Data shows that the Philippines only produced less than 60,000 MT of salt from 2,100 hectares occupied by Philippine salt makers. Salt production in the country needs about 12,000 to 13,000 hectares shoreline and the proper technology. Salt production is very economical and sustainable,” she said.
Villar said the country “would need more salt soon” since the coconut industry will require 300,000 MT to fertilize 300,000 coconut trees, at 1 kilo a year per tree.
“The total requirement would eventually be 850,000 tons worth $42 million,” she said.
Senate majority leader Joel Villanueva, who introduced SB 1450, said the country should be producing more salt since the Philippines “is blessed with over 36,000 kilometers of shoreline,” which is the fifth longest in the world.
Villanueva said he is baffled why the country still imported 93 percent of its requirements when local salt farmers can produce them given the country’s vast shorelines.
“We have an enormous, untapped, and neglected resource that could change the lives of about 60 percent of our total population who live in coastal zones,” Villanueva said.
When Villar asked officials of the Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, and the Food and Drug Administration who was in-charge of the regulation of the salt industry, the resource persons were silent.
“I’m just concerned, the DA is not interested in salt. No matter how I look at it, it’s part of the food industry… The finding is nobody is interested in the salt industry. I would like to think, they said it’s DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources), but DENR will just give permit to use the shoreline or land for the salt industry,” Villar said.
“Since this is kind of food, DA should be concerned. Kasi nagtuturuan-turuan na kayo kung sino in-charge (Now you are pointing at each other as to who is in-charge). I would like to think it’s DA,” she said.
Sen. Nancy Binay butted in, and asked which agency gives the permit to import salt.
To which the FDA, represented by Givinia Tuason, food and drug regulation officer 3, said their agency issues import permits but specifically for iodized salt for human consumption only. She said she does not know which agency issues permits for the importation of raw salt.
Villar said if the FDA only issues import permits for iodized salt, then there is no one fully responsible for the salt industry.
“Nagtataka ako sa gobyernong ito, kapag import, nagkakagulo kayo sinong in-charge. Pero kapag developmental, walang gustong umamin (I am just wondering about this government, when it comes to importation, everyone wants to participate. But when it comes to developmental, no one owns up to the responsibility),” Villar said.
Binay said: “Parang napakalaki ng problema natin sa asin kasi apparently wala sa pamahalaan natin ang in-charge sa salt (It looks like we have a big problem on the salt industry because apparently there no government agency in-charge for it).”
Villanueva, in a message to the media after the hearing, said the implementing rules and regulation of the ASIN Law “appears to allow the importation of raw salt, but they should be iodized prior to release for human consumption.”
