By Bernadette D. Nicolas & Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
AMID the African swine fever (ASF) outbreaks in several areas in Luzon, former Agriculture Secretary and now Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) Chairman Emmanuel F. Piñol renewed his proposal to separate the three major islands into quarantine clusters.
During a Senate Finance subcommittee hearing on the budget of MinDA, Piñol said this will insulate Mindanao and Visayan businesses from the impact of ASF.
The former agriculture chief again made the pitch before Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson, noting that his proposal is already being practiced in other countries, including ASF-stricken Belgium.
“In our proposal, Luzon should be considered as a separate quarantine cluster so that if OIE [World Organisation for Animal Health] has an advisory, for example, ASF will have an outbreak in Luzon; Mindanao and Visayas can still operate as an independent quarantine cluster,” he said.
Piñol said he had proposed this during the outbreak of avian influenza in Luzon in 2017.
He said the identification of quarantine clusters allowed Brussels to say that other regions in Belgium remain ASF-free.
“If we do not separate the country into clusters, when a disease breaks out, the whole Philippines will be listed as ASF-affected country, but if we will divide it into clusters, Luzon and Visayas will be isolated,” he said.
In a separate interview with reporters, the former agriculture chief said Mindanao hog industry stakeholders had recommended a “quarantine wall” be set up to protect Mindanao from the entry of ASF.
“Every region affected as of the moment should do that. Even Visayas should do that,” he said.
Asked if it was also recommended that only locally produced pork products should be sold in Mindanao, Piñol said: “That was the essence of the recommendation of the stakeholders yesterday. Mindanao is producing pork more than what it consumes so it never happened before that Mindanao will import pork from Luzon except for processed products.”
Inquiry
Magsasaka Party-list Rep. Argel Joseph T. Cabatbat said he filed two resolutions calling for an immediate House investigation into the outbreak of ASF, as well as the increasing number of rice cartels and rice smuggling in the country.
Cabatbat filed House Resolution 336 directing the House Committee on Agriculture and Food to look into the status of ASF proliferation in the country not only to protect the local consumers, but also to assess its adverse impact on the hog industry.
Cabatbat also filed House Resolution 332 urging the House Committee on Agriculture and Food to conduct an inquiry in aid of legislation to stop rice cartels and rice smuggling.
“Rice smuggling and rice cartels do not only deny the government of revenues but also put our poor Filipino families at the edge of hunger and poverty, forcing them to resort to criminality in order to survive,” he said.