NAIA quarantine team sacked

The quarantine group from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) assigned at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) had been relieved for allegedly failing to comply with quarantine protocol on pork products from countries grappling with the African Swine Fever (AFS).

The Department of Agriculture (DA) issued the relief of the BAI quarantine officers for failing to establish footbaths at the country’s premier airport. Dereliction of duty charges may be filed against them.

BAI Director Dr. Ronnie D. Domingo was asked by DA to explain the absence of footbaths in NAIA despite a department directive for all quarantine stations to have footbaths in all entry points of the country.

Domingo cited “procurement issues” for the absence of footbaths although other airports in the country have them.

While the DA apologized for the lapses of the BAI, it came short of confirming whether or not pork from swine that suffered ASF had entered the country.

It banned on 31 December 2018 the entry of pork and pork products from eight countries with known ASF cases, namely Belgium, China, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Russia and Ukraine.

Pork products from said countries were to be destroyed within 24 hours of their entry into the country.

WhileASF is not harmful to humans, it causes hemorrhagic fever in domesticated pigs and wild boar. It can survive for months in pork and processed pork products and transferred to local domestic pigs.

The Bureau of Customs had been directed to check the luggage of incoming passengers from ASF-affected countries for pork and pork products.