The Department of Agriculture (DA) hopes to immediately resolve an issue that has delayed the voluntary vaccination of hogs against African swine fever (ASF).
The department remains optimistic it can start the inoculation by tomorrow, Friday.
The DA said the voluntary inoculation was supposed to start early this month but has been delayed after a stakeholder filed a case with the Ombudsman questioning the legality of the said action.
DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said because of this, some personnel of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) refused to participate in the program, forcing the agency to deploy other individuals “willing to do the job.”
“We will try our best this Friday. If there will be further delays, maybe one or two more days but the target is this Friday,” said Tiu Laurel, at the sidelines of an agricultural convention in Pasay City yesterday.
The complaint filed to the Ombudsman identified respondents as former BAI director Paul Limson; former BAI assistant director Arlene Asteria Vytiaco; former DA senior undersecretary Domingo Panganiban; Tiu Laurel ; DA assistant secretary for livestock Dante Palabrica; Food and Drug Administration (FDA) director-general Samuel Zacate; former FDA deputy director-general for field operations Oscar Guitierrez Jr.; and current FDA deputy director Jesusa Cirunay.
Also included in the charge sheet are KPP Powers Commodities Inc. chief executive officer Pinky Pe Tobiano, managing director Juan Carlos Robles, legal counsel and spokesman Reynaldo Robles, consultant Maximo Montenegro and general manager Noreen Geronimo.
Except for Montenegro, all are officials of the company serving as exclusive importer and distributor of the AVAC ASF Live vaccine from Vietnam.
Last month, DA said AVAC ASF vaccines from Vietnam secured a certificate of product registration from the FDA. The vaccines will be initially offered for free to commercial farms, semi-commercial farms and clustered backyard farms under strict supervision.
Tiu Laurel said the DA has initially procured 10,000 doses of ASF vaccines for the program and plans to procure up to 150,000 more doses.
The DA has set aside P350 million for the ASF vaccine program, P300 million of which will be utilized to buy 600,000 doses of vaccines and the remaining P50 million for syringes, protective equipment and other miscellaneous items needed.
In a separate statement, BAI said it is working with the Philippine National Police (PNP) and local government units, in intensifying the inspection and monitoring of animal shipments in the National Capital Region (NCR).
BAI said as of August 28, a total of 1,963 shipments of live animals and meat products have undergone inspection at various checkpoints across NCR.
Out of these, 113 shipments were returned to their points of origin due to non-compliance with animal health regulations, while 13 were subjected to further testing to ensure they were free from diseases.
Ten shipments were condemned due to serious health concerns, while 1,827 shipments, after meeting the necessary requirements were cleared and released.
Based on latest data from BAI, as of August 21, active cases of ASF in the country are contained in 15 regions, 32 provinces, 115 municipalities and 458 barangays.
