THE military’s Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) has offered to expand existing security checkpoints into quarantine barriers as part of efforts to prevent the entry of African swine fever (ASF) into the region.
The offer was made by Eastmincom Commander Lt. Gen. Felimon Santos Jr. after Department of Agriculture Region 11 Regional Director Ricardo Oñate together with the members of the surveillance team from the Meat Inspection Service of the Bureau of Animal Industry and some hog raisers in Davao region visited the headquarters of the Eastmincom.
The visit was made to seek the assistance of the military in the “biological battle” of preventing “zoonotic and infectious diseases” from entering the region which could affect the animal industry and the region’s economy as a whole.
“Our fixed security checkpoints can be used as a point of convergence in carrying out the best interest of the government and of the communities, hence, can accommodate other capabilities and be expanded or converted to a whole of government platform like that of quarantine checkpoint,” Santos said.
Lt. Col. Ezra Balagtey, Eastmincom spokesman, said security checkpoints of Task Force Davao under Col. Consolito Yecla have already been expanded into quarantine checkpoints after the city government of Davao, through the City Veterinary and Agriculture Office deployed quarantine personnel.
The quarantine personnel are being assisted by the 65 members of Task Force Davao who were also oriented on animal and meat quarantine.
During the meeting with Agriculture officials, Santos recommended that the ASF issue be cascaded to different levels of Peace and Order Councils (POCs) in order to encourage the participation of different law enforcement agencies and the crafting of local and regional plans, to include biosecurity protocols.
“Taking off from the initiative of Davao City and Task Force Davao checkpoints as a template, we are asking the concerned agencies to level the issue to the different POCs to consolidate and synchronized effort in this biological battle,” Santos said.