Upon my assumption as Acting Secretary of Agriculture, we conducted a series of meetings with the private sector, particularly the leaders of various agribusiness industries, engaging them once again as our major partners in modernizing and industrializing Philippine agriculture.
Even before receiving an incident report over the weekend, they have attended and actively participated in several briefings, during my first two weeks in office, on the major issues and concerns of the country’s animal industry.
Last Friday, August 16, 2019, we received an incident report from our Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) on any increased mortality of pigs raised by farmers in their backyards.
Immediately, we revived and strengthened the Crisis Management Team (CMT) to oversee the planning and implementation of appropriate measures to manage, contain, and control the suspected animal disease or diseases.
We directed BAI to conduct further confirmatory laboratory tests, including sending blood samples to foreign laboratories, to ascertain the cause of the animal’s death.
We also ordered the CMT to work closely with key industry players and local government officials to manage the incident and carry our ground-level operations.
We will institutionalize the active participation of the private sector and LGUs and they will be part of the CMT from hereon to gain their full involvement and commitment, including other technical teams that will monitor and evaluate said recent events.
We assure the animal industry stakeholders and the general public that we are on top of the situation, and we are doing everything possible.
With this development, we have further upgraded our monitoring and vigilance, including the imposition of stricter quarantine measures all over the country’s ports of entry, airports, and seaports.
We call on all hog raisers – commercial players and particularly those engaged in backyard operations – to strictly observe and practice good livestock practices, including the needed bio-security measures.
In all, we will strictly and vigorously implement all existing laws, rules and regulations in protecting the country’s animal industry.
The Crisis Management Team will issue regular bulletins from here on. ###
19 August 2019
