Use QRF vs swine fever, DA told

Angara: The fund will help stop the spread of the disease and further damage to the P260-billion swine industry.

Senator Sonny Angara on Wednesday urged the Department of Agriculture (DA) to “break the glass” of its P1 billion quick response fund (QRF) amid the confirmed outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) in three areas in the country.

“This ASF is by all accounts a calamity. It may not have the dramatic footage that typhoons create, but in terms of damage to livelihood, and the households affected, it is just as damaging,” Angara said.

Angara, chairman of the Senate finance committee, said the government should now tap the budget to stop the spread of the disease before it causes further damage to the P260-billion swine industry.

He said the fund, which can be sourced from the P20 billion National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund from the General Appropriations Act for 2020, should be used to implement the DA’s containment protocol against the disease.

Under this fund, the DA is apportioned P1 billion in QRF, “which by their nature, should have been forward-deployed to these agencies.”

Angara noted that of the P82.5 million released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to the DA, only P32 million will be spent to boost security screening measures at the international air and seaports.

Meanwhile, another P28 million was earmarked for laboratory testing of meat and meat products.

“It is good that we’re strengthening our quarantine curtains, but what we lack are funds to fight ASF on the ground,” he said.

However, he added that the government should deploy more financial assistance to implement stricter biosecurity protocols to carry out measures to “arrest and abate” the spread of ASF.

He thus urged both Congress and the executive branch to look at ways “to strengthen our food biosecurity and food safety measures.”

“But if the ASF epidemic will worsen, and will down many farms, and some financial aid for those stricken is needed, then this can be included in the 2020 budget. It will take effect in only less than 100 days,” Angara said.

The senator assured that senate remains open should the DA seek for additional funding to manage and contain the ASF virus.

Meanwhile, the DA, through the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), on Wednesday afternoon said it will spend another P78 million emergency fund approved by President Rodrigo Duterte and the Cabinet during last week’s meeting.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the National ASF Task Force will also convene to “flesh out inter-agency coordination, in partnership with concerned local government units and the private sector.”

Dar confirmed the presence of ASF last 9 September upon receiving the confirmatory test results from the World Organization for Animal Health but assured the public that there was no epidemic.

On Tuesday, he said the ASF in initially affected areas in Bulacan and Rizal provinces has already been “contained and controlled.”