By YOLANDA Z. SOTELO

SEEMS like The Pork has been hogging the limelight lately.

First, there’s the irate Muslim congresswoman who looked pretty (at least in the photo published in a national paper) but who turned ugly (her behavior, I mean) because she was unknowingly fed pork (the meat) during a function at the Congress.

She explained that she got angry because not shunning The Pork was a matter of faith, and that she violated that sacred religious law of not eating pork.

I won’t comment on that, as a matter of

faith.

Then there’s a page one story in the Inquirer which said that lawmakers are not entitled to pork, according to the Palace. Palace of course, is not Buckingham or White House. To us Pinoys, Palace is Malacañang. (Am I corny? Its due to eating too much pork)

Pork, in this case, is the kind that bloats many a lawmaker’s pocket, most times, their belly, too. The Palace said it was standing pat on its policy of selective dispersal of pork barrel or the P6-billion Priority Development Assistance Fund.

I expect a barrage of violent reactions from congressmen because of this announcement, I will not comment on that either.

Then there’s the hog raisers raising howl over the smuggled pork (again, The Meat) from China. Hog raisers from Pangasinan said the Chinese Pork could be contaminated with foot and mouth disease (FMD), which the province and entire Luzon is still struggling to get rid of.

This, I will comment on.

Pangasinan is at present FMD-free, but only because all piglets are inoculated against it for free by the government. Once the vaccination stops, FMD may again wreak havoc to the industry, the hog raisers said.

If the pork from China is really contaminated with FMD, it will be the backyard raisers, which collectively raise 100,000 sows, who will be greatly affected. These backyard raisers, who raise pigs as alkansiya to be cracked during openings of schools, or during other important events, can hardly afford the vaccination thus the government is providing it to them for free.

The virus can travel fast, and even the meat can be carriers, according to Provincial Veterinarian Ben (Affleck) Perez. (Sorry, I’m hallucinating!) Even the water used to wash the meat carries the virus. If people are careless, wash the pork and throw the water in areas where are pigs, pity those pigs, sure as sure they will get infected with FMD, he said. But pity the people that raise those pigs, they will lose their livelihood.

But the commercial hog raisers cannot rest, too, with the FMD threat like a Sword of Damocles upon their heads. When backyards raisers get affected, sooner than later they too will get the disease.

The problem is that container vans full of pork are still in the stockyard of Customs in Manila. And they are still frozen, the refrigerated vans eating up electricity there. And electricity cost much, does’t it?

And the pork, big chunks of it, may still find its way to the market – most probably to meat processors. We cannot never know, can we?

One favorite fare during December is the Chinese ham – that leg of pig treated until as hard as rock.

Hey now, are we eating Chinese Ham with FMD?