MANILA -- Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol on Friday said he will relieve the entire personnel of the Department of Agriculture's Quarantine Group at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) for defying his earlier order on the implementation of quarantine procedures against the African Swine Fever or ASF.
Piñol said the relief would be effective 5 p.m. on Friday.
“I will issue the order today even as I am here in the Bicol Region personally assessing the damage of Tropical Depression Usman and ensuring immediately delivery of interventions,” he said in a Facebook post.
Piñol said “(t)he relief of the whole Quarantine Team at the NAIA should send a clear message to members of the Department of Agriculture (DA) family that we cannot take Administrative Directives for granted.”
He said aside from relieving the entire Quarantine Group personnel, an investigation would also be conducted to determine if there was any ground for charging them with dereliction of duty.
The African Swine Fever, caused by virus, is a highly-contagious swine disease that had already wrecked havoc among swine farmers in many countries.
In a China farm alone, more than 8,000 pigs had been recently been infected and over half of these had died.
The disease was difficult to detect unless in its advance stage as there was no sign among infected pigs.
Piñol said when the outbreak was monitored as early as last year, the DA immediately established a plan of action to prevent the entry of the disease into the country.
“Shortly before the holidays, I ordered Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) Acting Director Ronnie Domingo to ensure that footbaths and other Quarantine measures are established in all entry points of the country as the dreaded ASF, a disease killing pigs in at least eight countries, was reported spreading in China,” he said.
He said the directive was for all Quarantine Stations “to establish Footbaths in all entry points of the country, the interception and confiscation of all pork-based products,”
Piñol said the lack of footbaths at NAIA came to his attention after reports quoting agriculture advocate Rosendo So.
“Upon reading the report, I immediately called up Dr. Domingo and confronted him about it. Dr. Domingo admitted that the NAIA Quarantine Group failed to establish the Footbath facility "because of procurement issues" and it was the only station which failed to implement the directives,” he said.
Piñol said he did not buy the alibi because the Quarantine Group there could have found ways.
Piñol also apologized “to the stakeholders of the hog industry for this administrative lapse.”
“While I have issued the needed directives to implement the Quarantine Procedures, I have to admit that there are still weak links in the Department which need to be corrected,” he added. (PNA)
