Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol on Friday said he will relieve all department personnel working in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Quarantine Group for defying his order to carry out quarantine procedures against the African Swine Fever or ASF.
The relief would be effective 5 p.m. on Friday.
Piñol said the relief of the entire Quarantine Team at the NAIA would send a clear message to all department personnel that they cannot take administrative directives for granted.
He added that an investigation would be conducted to determine if there were any grounds for charging them with dereliction of duty.
The African Swine Fever, caused by virus, is a highly-contagious swine disease that has already wrecked havoc among swine farmers in many countries.
In one China farm alone, more than 8,000 pigs had recently been infected and over half of these had died.
The disease is difficult to detect unless in its advance stage.
Piñol said when the outbreak was monitored as early as last year, the DA immediately established a plan of action to prevent the entry of the disease into the country.
“Shortly before the holidays, I ordered Bureau of Animal Industry [BAI] Acting Director Ronnie Domingo to ensure that footbaths and other quarantine measures are established in all entry points of the country as the dreaded ASF, a disease killing pigs in at least eight countries, was reported spreading in China,” he said.
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He said the directive was for all quarantine stations “to establish foot baths in all entry points of the country, the interception and the confiscation of all pork-based products.”
Piñol said the lack of foot baths at NAIA came to his attention after reports quoting agriculture advocate Rosendo So.
“Upon reading the report, I immediately called up Dr. Domingo and confronted him about it. Dr. Domingo admitted that the NAIA Quarantine Group failed to establish the foot bath facility “because of procurement issues” and it was the only station which failed to implement the directives,” he said.
Piñol said he did not buy the excuse because the Quarantine Group there could have found ways.
Piñol also apologized “to the stakeholders of the hog industry for this administrative lapse.”
“While I have issued the needed directives to implement the quarantine procedures, I have to admit that there are still weak links in the department which need to be corrected,” he added.
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