Making sure San Mateo authorities man a checkpoint at the Quezon City boundary after Mayor Joy Belmonte announced the presence of ASF which has so far killed 11 pigs at Barangay Silangan. ANALY LABOR
Malacañang maintained yesterday that there is no need for President Rodrigo Duterte to issue a new directive to the Department of Agriculture (DA) to address more cases of the African swine fever (ASF) in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.
Carcasses of dead pigs were seen floating on the Marikina River last week and dozens of pigs also fell dead in Quezon City all believed to be because of ASF.
“There’s no need for any directive from the Palace simply because the DA Secretary knows what he is going to do. He’s been tasked to do it, and he is doing it,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo told reporters in a Palace briefing.
Panelo also echoed Agriculture chief William Dar’s pronouncement that pork and its by-products being sold locally are safe for consumption.
“The DA said it is, and so it is,” stressed the Palace official, adding that he believes it did not jump the gun when it announced that ASF has been contained.
“As far as they’re concerned, they handled it properly. If there are isolated cases in one place, then they will take care of that,” he added.
Dar has earlier confirmed that more areas in Central Luzon are now under quarantine but declined to name them.
The Department of Health, meanwhile, clarified that ASF does not pose as a danger to human health as long as pork is “cooked thoroughly” to prevent contracting illnesses from half-cooked meat.
Pork products sold in the market bearing seals from the National Meat Inspection Service are safe to eat, according to the DA.
A week after the confirmation of ASF outbreak in three areas in Bulacan and Rizal provinces, swine industry stakeholders are pushing for an increase in the agriculture department’s budget amid a spike in hog deaths and plummeting price of rice.
