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Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte is prodding the national government to facilitate the release of emergency funds for the purchase of African Swine Fever (ASF) vaccines from Vietnam.

This can be done by declaring a state of calamity in areas affected by ASF, the former House deputy speaker said.

Villafuerte also reiterated his appeal to the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) to mount a nationwide inoculation drive for domestic pigs as soon as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gives its go-signal for commercial use to the Avac Live vaccine.

“The government needs to declare a state of calamity in ASF-hit areas so it can look for and immediately release emergency funds to bankroll a mass vaccination drive this year, and then set aside additional funds in next year’s General Appropriations Act (GAA) so the BAI can sustain this inoculation project in 2024,” he said.

BAI is an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA), which is currently headed by President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.

The former governor of CamSur, which is one of the country’s ASF-hit provinces, reiterated his proposals after Marcos announced at a July 5 livestock event the completion of the initial phase of safety and efficacy trials for the ASF vaccine.

As per the President, BAI has found the vaccine to produce sufficient antibodies against the virus and safe for use for local hogs.

Villafuerte urged the FDA to speed up its registration process for the Avac Live vaccine so it may become available for local commercial use as soon as possible.

He also urged BAI to immediately request funds for the vaccine purchase, as well as to oversee the eventual immunization drive in hog-raising areas nationwide.

ASF is a highly contagious viral disease of domestic and wild pigs, the mortality rate of which can reach 100 percent.

So devastating is ASF to livestock that the government resorts to mass culling of hogs in a given area even if just a few hogs had been affected.

Villafuerte said his proposals “will best equip our government to put an end to this period of low hog supply, bigger imports and high pork prices resulting from the resurgence of ASF, which, in turn, has been one of the factors behind the stubborn elevated inflation that threatens to hold back the country’s high-growth momentum".