Authorities have culled some 7,000 pigs in hopes to stem the further spread of the hog disease.

Amid the controversy sparked by the outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in the country, former Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Emmanuel Piñol on Tuesday slammed his successor William Dar for firing up a “blame game.”

This as authorities have culled some 7,000 pigs in hopes to stem the further spread of the hog disease.

Piñol said Dar’s claim of ASF cases in May showed his successor’s “utter lack of knowledge of the characteristic of the virus” — which has an incubation period of four to 19 days and can decimate a hog population in 48 to 72 hours.

“This means that if indeed the ASF was already present in the country in May, by August when Secretary Dar took over the DA, it should have already wiped out the hog population among backyard farmers in Central Luzon,” Piñol said.

The former DA secretary also noted that even if the virus was present in the country during the transition period between his and Dar’s leadership, Piñol said that engaging in a blame game will not do any good for both of them.

Piñol stressed that Dar should have prepared for the problems he expected to encounter before he assumed office. But he said the current DA secretary “was more concerned with identifying ‘Piñol’s people’ and dressing down officials in public.”

“Let me just remind them that some of those officials are Presidential Appointees who campaigned hard for the victory of President Duterte at the time Secretary Dar and his adviser, Rosendo So, were campaigning for another presidential candidate,” Piñol said.

“I do not know Secretary Dar’s management style but I never embarrass my fellow workers in public. That is not my style,” he added.

Dar claimed that possible cases of the disease, which has no cure and vaccine, were reported as early as May, some three months before he took office and before the outbreak of ASF in parts of Rizal and Bulacan provinces.

“I don’t know why it was not revealed. Last 5 August, there was no incident report yet, but there was informal feedback on observations of sick pigs,” Dar said.