SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — President Rodrigo R. Duterte today/Aug. 28 had lunch of chicken barbecue, “balut” and fried duck in a “boodle fight” with top Agriculture and local officials and poultry raisers near the epicenter of the first outbreak of bird flu in the country that Secretary Emmanuel F. Pinol said has been contained.

“I assure the public that the poultry products from Pampanga and Nueva Ecija are safe for consumption,” the President declared later in a forum, nearly three weeks after the Department of Agriculture, in a swift and decisive move, declared a 7-km quarantine and a one-km radius in at least seven farms in San Luis, Pampanga hit by the first outbreak.

Two more towns in Nueva Ecija, Jaen and San Isidro, were later put under the same protocols after being hit by avian flu.

Piñol said the government effectively checked the spread of the virus, identified as H5N6, with strict quarantine measures that it swiftly implemented, backed by poultry raisers and provincial and town officials when the bird flu outbreak was first confirmed.

He said that government agencies, industry stakeholders and the public at large closely cooperated, which made the implementation of the established quarantine protocols effective and successful.

“We consider our effort to contain the spread of avian influenza a success,” Secretary Piñol said in a report to the President during the forum called “Sama-Sama, Tulong-Tulong Sa Pagbangon at Pagsulong” at the Heroes’ Hall in San Fernando.

President Duterte, in the same forum, released an initial amount of P29 million to poultry farmers from San Luis, Pampanga and Jaen and San Isidro in Nueva Ecija—the towns hit by the avian flu outbreak—as compensation for around 667,000 chicken, ducks and quails that were culled as part of the clean-up operations.

To prove that it was safe to eat chicken and other poultry products, the President gamely and heartily ate lunch in a “boodle fight”.

He was joined by Secretary Piñol and other DA officials, Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial, Pampanga Gov. Lilia Pineda, Nueva Ecija Gov. Czarina Umali, former President and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and other Pampanga and Nueva Ecija congressmen, mayors and officials.

Secretary Piñol admitted that the cost of the Avian flu outbreak to poultry raisers is high but stressed that industry players and the public need to join hands with the government in ensuring that the poultry industry recovers.

The P29 million released is the first payment of the total of P43.31 million which the Department of Agriculture vowed to release to all affected farmers whose fowls were culled in the anti-bird flu operations.

The initial amount released included P20,723,797 for the farmers of San Luis, Pampanga and four more farms in Jaen and San Isidro, Nueva Ecija.

The President also gave assurances to industry stakeholders in Central Luzon that the government will help them recover with easy-to-pay loans and recovery programs already activated by the Department of Agriculture.

The Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) also turned over P20 million to the Rural Bank of San Luis for release as assistance and no-collateral and no-interest loans to affected farm workers and farmers.

The President’s meeting with poultry industry stakeholders and government officials in San Fernando came 18 days after laboratory tests confirmed the outbreak of the Avian Influenza initially in the town of San Luis, which killed about 37,000 chickens before it was reported to the DA.

Subsequent laboratory tests also confirmed the presence of the highly pathogenic Avian Influenza virus in Jaen and San Isidro located close to San Luis.

A total of 667,184 chicken, ducks, quails, gamefowls and pigeons were culled in farms in the three Central Luzon towns.

The three towns have been cleared and disinfection operations have been completed, Piñol reported.

President Duterte’s display of support is expected to help the poultry industry get back on its feet, Secretary Piñol said.

UNITY SOLVED PROBLEM, SAYS PIÑOL

The Central Luzon bird flu outbreak is a classic story of how in the face of crisis, a united citizenry could quickly contain a problem, overcome adverse conditions and even discover opportunities, Secretary Piñol stressed in his report to the President.

Piñol noted that the problem started on August 3, 2017, when the Regional Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (RADDL) received the first reports of an unusual number of deaths of quails and layer chicken in several farms in San Luis, Pampanga.

He said accounts noted that the problem started as early as April 2017 in a quail farm with about 70 ducks where all of the 15,000 quails and 50 ducks died in just a matter of a few days.

It was not reported immediately, the DA Secretary pointed out, until the fowl deaths reached about 37,000.

The RADDL laboratory tests showed that the virus that hit San Luis was Avian Influenza Type A. Following protocol, Piñol said, the RADDL forwarded specimens to the National Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI).

Specimens were also sent to two other laboratories, all of which confirmed the findings of the RADDL that the virus which was killing the fowls in San Luis was indeed Avian Influenza.

On August 10, 2017, an official report was made to the Secretary of Agriculture who under established protocols immediately ordered the establishment of quarantine stations in the exit roads of San Luis, Pampanga.

Following established protocols, the Avian Influenza Task Force, which was immediately activated, declared a one-kilometer radius around San Luis as a contained area where all fowls were to be culled and another seven-kilometer radius to serve as the surveillance area.

A Luzon-wide ban on the shipment of fowls, poultry and poultry products to other parts of the country was immediately ordered.

On August 11, after the quarantine stations were established, the public announcement confirming the Avian Influenza outbreak in San Luis was made.

Consultations were immediately made with local officials of Pampanga and stakeholders on August 11 and then on August 13, the Agriculture Secretary proceeded to San Luis to meet with the farmers and promised compensation.

Culling operations were immediately started. Faced with the lack of personnel, the Agriculture Department sought the support of the Office of the Civil Defense, the Department of Health, the Philippine National Police, the Local Government Units of Pampanga and the Philippine Army through the 48th Infantry Battalion.

A week later, samples taken in Jaen and San Isidro towns in Nueva Ecija also showed positive for AI virus and the same Quarantine Protocols done in San Luis, Pampanga were also implemented in the two towns. ### (DA-OSEC)