The Philippine government could not give any assurance that the new swine flu threatening both animal and human health in China will not enter the country’s borders amid the continuous smuggling of agriculture products here.
In a virtual briefing on Thursday, Agriculture Secretary William Dar said that while preventive measures are now being implemented against G4, an animal disease recently detected in China that can be passed from animals to humans, the continuous smuggling of pork and other meat products from China makes the Philippines very much vulnerable from catching the virus.
To recall, smuggling is the same reason why the fatal animal disease African Swine Fever (ASF) was able to creep into the backyard farms of the country in August last year despite the well-funded strict quarantine measures implemented by the DA.
ASF had so far resulted in the death and culling of about 300,000 pigs across different parts of the country.
“Our biggest problem is smuggling. We should be able to stop the smuggling of pork products from China. From time to time, illegal shipments are still coming in. So we are appealing to illegal traders to not bring additional problems to the country,” Dar said.
“We are yet to win over this COVID-19 pandemic. It's already a big challenge. Aside from that, our problem with ASF still persists,” he added.
For Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG), there’s only two solutions for this. It’s either the DA temporarily suspends the importation of agriculture products, or it now builds the billions worth border quarantine facilities it has promised to construct.
“Suspend all agriculture imports and implement the quarantine first policy,” said SINAG Chairperson Rosendo So.
“There is no other way for us but to fully implement the First Border Policy of the country's Food Safety Law,” he added.
Passed in 2013, Food Safety Law or the Republic Act (RA) 10611 requires that all imported foods shall undergo cargo inspection and clearance procedures by the DA and the Department of Health (DOH) at the first port of entry to determine compliance with national regulations.
This inspection by the DA and the DOH shall always take place prior to assessment for tariff and other charges by the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
In December last year, at the height of the ASF issue in the country and with the seize of tons of smuggled meat products from China, Dar said the DA has received the cabinet approval for the DA's proposal to build border examination facilities in the country.
This, according to him, will help the Philippine government effectively implement provisions of RA 10611.
The move will be initially given a budget of P2 billion for the establishment of five facilities, which will require a construction budget of P400 million each.
These will be built in Davao, Batangas, Cebu, Bataan, and Manila.
“If we implement the Food Safety Law, all agricultural commodities that enter the Philippines should undergo infection in the first port of entry. If the DA can’t do this, they should immediately suspend all refrigerated and non-refrigerated agriculture and agriculture-based imports,” So said.
“In the era of global pandemic, food safety, and public health concerns, we urge the government to strictly implement the global standard of Quarantine First Policy,” he added.
Two days ago, in an attempt to assure Filipinos that the Philippines is still relatively safe from G4, DA’s attached agency, Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), reminded that the country does not import pork products from China.
This, despite the fact that thousands of metric tons of pork and poultry products from the world's second largest economy illegally entered the Philippines several times last year.
“The DA and the BAI assures the public that the Philippines does not import swine or pork products from China,” BAI said.
Then it told the general public to report any unusual pig mortalities to farm veterinarians or to the nearest Government Veterinary/Agricultural Office, as well as to consult a physician when observing flu-like symptoms among their pigs.
BAI also “strongly” recommended local swine farm owners to consult their licensed veterinarian to review farm biosafety and biosecurity programs.
As an immediate response to the threat, BAI will host this week a technical meeting with the Philippine Interagency Committee on Zoonosis to prepare the framework for managing emerging diseases that affect animals and humans.
The National Task Force on Animal-Borne Diseases (NTFAD), which is chaired by Agriculture Secretary William Dar, shall also make the final recommendations and report to the President.
In December last year, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) seized as much as 12,000 kilos of illegally imported meat from China, including frozen pork, chicken, and peking duck.
This is despite the existing import bans that the Philippine government had put in place a long time ago against pork and poultry products coming from China.
When bird flu reemerged in China in February, DA Spokesperson Noel Ocampo Reyes told Manila Bulletin that the agency does not see the need to issue a formal reminder that the ban versus poultry imports from China, which was issued in 2004, is still effective.
This, while he also recognized the fact that despite the ban, smuggled chicken meat from the world’s most populated country was still able to make its way through Philippine borders on several occasions last year.
“No should know that already,” Reyes said.
“The ban has been in place since 2004 that’s why inspections are being done by BOC. The problem is some still gets through, right?” he added.