Senator Cynthia Villar, the influential chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform, has urged Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. to hasten the approval and distribution of the African swine flu (ASF) vaccine that has been pending at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Villar, who visited the DAILY TRIBUNE office in Makati City on Tuesday, aired concerns about the delay in the vaccine distribution as the ASF continues to batter the livelihood of big and small hog raisers in the countryside.

The lawmaker said the livestock industry has suffered huge losses due to ASF.

“The DA officials told me they will approve a vaccine (brand) in December. Now they are telling me it’ll be in January,” Villar told DAILY TRIBUNE editors and reporters.

She said the reason the vaccine approval and rollout are suffering delays is because of the issue of partiality among vaccine manufacturers and suppliers.

“You know sometimes they play favorites. But the FDA won’t approve it unless they have several choices. That’s the problem with vaccines. But I was hurrying them up during their budget hearing,” the lawmaker said.

In an interview with reporters last month, Agriculture Assistant Secretary and spokesperson Arnel V. de Mesa said the DA is preparing to hasten the rollout of the ASF vaccine beyond the initial pilot-testing area of Batangas.

“Administrative Circular No. 13 revised the vaccination program. Its main objective is to speed up the rollout of the ASF vaccine in key areas, particularly in barangays without cases for at least 40 days,” he said.

Passage of livestock bill

To prevent the recurrence of revenue losses in the livestock, poultry and dairy (LPD) sector, Senator Villar said she filed Senate Bill 2558, or an Act Strengthening Livestock, Poultry, and Dairy Industry Development and Competitiveness, Rationalizing the Organization and Functions of Relevant Government Agencies, and Creating a Competitiveness Enhancement Fund.

Under the bill, the government will create the LPD Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, backed with an annual appropriation not exceeding P7.8 billion, sourced from tariff collections on imported LPD products.

According to Villar, this fund was based on the model of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund.

Border control facility

Villar said the reason the ASF virus spread was because the country lacks first border control facilities which prevent the entry of diseases.

She said that two years ago, she appropriated a budget for the establishment of the first border control facility in Bulacan after a farmer organization donated a parcel of land.

“The facility will be equipped with a laboratory that will test the meat entering Metro Manila and vice versa. Would you believe, two years and it hasn’t been finished? There is a lobby to delay it. Why? What’s wrong with it? I gave a budget two years ago,” Villar said.

She said that hog swill, or the meat, meat scraps, and meat trimmings that come from hotels, are the reason the ASF virus was eradicated.

“In Las Piñas, we plant napier grass. We don’t buy or use swill, that’s infected with ASF. That’s why I insist the establishment of first border control facility to keep ASF out,” she said.

Earlier, the DA said it had earmarked P300 million to purchase around 600,000 doses of the ASF vaccine from Vietnam, along with P50 million to cover inoculation-related expenses.

The dreaded ASF has been hurting the livestock sector since it resurfaced in 2019.

Based on records of the Bureau of Plant Industry, as of 6 September, pigs from 14 regions, 31 provinces, 109 municipalities, and 472 barangays have been hit by ASF, incurring billions of pesos in revenue losses to hog raisers.