Bird flu spreads to Nueva Ecija; Piñol admits hiding initial reports
August 18, 2017 | 10:06am
Department of Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol holds a manual for Avian Influenza Protection during a news conference on the confirmation of the first bird flu case in the country Friday, Aug. 11, 2017 in Manila, Philippines. Piñol said the Philippines will cull at least 400,000 birds after confirming its first bird flu outbreak, but that no animal-to-human transmission has been reported. AP Photo/Bullit Marquez
MANILA, Philippines — The first bird flu outbreak in the country has now spread in two towns in Nueva Ecija, one week after it was confirmed in San Luis, Pampanga, which will result to the culling of about 300,000 poultry heads.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said two cases of avian influenza (bird flu) in Jaen and San Isidro have been confirmed by attached agency Bureau of Animal Industry after series of laboratory tests.
“The confirmation was made after series of laboratory tests on specimens gathered from quails and layer chickens were conducted by the Animal Diseases Detection Laboratory,” Piñol said.
In a phone interview with The STAR, the Agri chief admitted that he already got reports of chicken deaths in Nueva Ecija earlier this week but decided to not announce it publicly.
“We actually did not want to create another cause of fear. We wanted to confine the attention to San Luis in Pampanga only. But it already came out so we can’t do anything about it,” he said.
Piñol was interviewed Thursday afternoon in Quezon City and was asked if there are possible areas where the virus may have spread already but he maintained that it is still confined in San Luis.
But on Friday morning, he confirmed the outbreak after The STAR reported that suspected bird flu cases in the province have been revealed by DA-BAI itself.
“Quarantine teams were immediately established even before the laboratory tests confirmed the presence of the virus,” he said.
The farm in Jaen raised quails which were wiped out while the farm in San Isidro is a layer poultry facility of about 20,000 heads.
Similar to the case in Pampanga, a one-kilometer contained radius and a seven-kilometer controlled radius have been established.
Culling operations are also ongoing for the 300,000 other fowls within the one-kilometer radius.
Based on initial data, 200,000 quails, 28,000 layer chickens, 22,000 ducks and 57,000 native chickens will be culled within the one-kilometer radius.
The province of Nueva Ecija has an estimated poultry population of over six million poultry heads.
Conflicting statements of DA and BAI
The Agri chief and Dr. Joy Lagayan of BAI’s animal disease control division actually had conflicting statements after the announcement which caused confusion as to whether there really is an outbreak in the area.
Even after Piñol confirmed the outbreak, Lagayan maintained that it is still not a confirmed case as laboratory tests are still being done and will take about a week before results will be released.
“It’s not a confirmed case unless it is backed up by laboratory tests. It is confirmed that there are chicken deaths but it is not confirmed whether there is a presence of the virus in the area. The avian influenza strain is still under confirmatory test,” Lagayan told The STAR in a phone interview.
But, Piñol himself said tests are already done and was confirmed by Agriculture Undersecretary for Livestock Enrico Garzon that it is indeed bird flu virus.
Lagayan, however, back tracked and agreed with what Piñol said, an hour after the Secretary issued his official statement via his Facebook page.
“I support whatever the Secretary said, if he says that it’s confirmed and posted it online then we’ll back him up. For now, my commitment is with DA and I apologize if this lead to confusion,” Lagayan said in a text message.
Lifting of ban delayed again
Because of the new incident, Piñol said the early lifting of the ban on the shipment of poultry products from Luzon to the Visayas and Mindanao may be delayed.
Piñol on Thursday said farmers may resume its shipment operations around the second week of September after all processes have been completed.
“We will have to reset the time clock again. We will be monitoring the case in the next 21 days. So another 21 days,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Samahang Industriya at Agrikultura (Sinag) slammed Piñol over his recent decisions.
“There may be other agenda behind this. We support the efforts on quarantine protocol but with the way it is being handled, we begin to think what the real agenda is,” Sinag Chairman Rosendo So said in a separate interview.
“Our concern is just with the solution being imposed. Why should the whole Luzon be affected? According to him [Piñol], they were able to contain the problem and that it is not transmissible to humans, and yet why affect the whole Luzon?” he added.
The local industry is also lamenting the lack of coordination of the Agri chief with those really affected.
“It’s been one week [since the outbreak]. He has not talked to us. Up to now, he has talked to those who will be principally hit with his move,” said So.
He added that Piñol has not reached out to industry groups such as Sinag, Philippine Egg Board and the United Broiler Raisers Association for any dialogue.
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