The Department of Agriculture (DA) has shipped nearly 12 metric tons (MT) of dressed chicken to soldiers and policemen who are currently fighting terrorists in Marawi City.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the first shipment of about 11,874 kilograms, or 11.87 MT, of frozen dressed chicken intended for consumption by soldiers and policemen in Marawi City arrived on September 16 in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental.
“As promised, soldiers and policemen received the first shipment of dressed chicken from President Duterte who wanted to provide the fighting men and women better food while in combat,” Piñol said in a Facebook post.
“It was also planned to be part of a strategy to provide additional market for broilers which suffered a drop in demand because of the recent bird-flu outbreak in Pampanga,” he added.
Piñol said the 12-MT dressed chicken was donated by Jonathan Suy of Ana’s Breeder Farm Inc., which owns the Farmers Fresh Chicken brand.
“A total of 2.4 MT of frozen broiler chicken are currently being delivered directly to Marawi City from Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental, as facilitated and coordinated by the DA office in Region 10 under Director Carlene Collado,” he said.
The DA chief said there would be five more deliveries of frozen dressed chicken totaling about 2 MT to 3 MT, as requested by the troops in Marawi. “There will be additional deliveries of chicken until the soldiers and policemen have completed their task in Marawi City.”
Piñol said the DA had earlier planned to provide dressed chicken to Marawi evacuees but this was opposed by some Maranao leaders “who said giving chicken coming from bird flu-affected areas was an insult to them.”
“This was, of course, an unfounded claim because all of the chicken in the bird flu-affected areas were actually killed and disposed of,” he said.
“Due to the opposition of some Maranao leaders, it was decided that the supply will only be given to soldiers and policemen,” he added.