THE Philippine Veterinary Medical Association (PVMA) has expressed its support to five officials of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) and Department of Agriculture in Central Visayas (DA) who are facing charges over the handling of African swine fever (ASF) in Cebu.
Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia filed a case before the Office of the Ombudsman Visayas on March 29, 2023 against BAI Director Paul Limson, Dr. Samuel Joseph Castro (deputy program coordinator), Dr. Joshua Cruz (BAI coordinator on ASF), Dr. Miriam Lopez Vito of the Regional Veterinary Quarantine Station, and Dr. Daniel Ventura Jr. (DA 7 coordinator on ASF).
Violations cited in the case were of Republic Act (RA) 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and RA 7160, or the Local Government Code of 1991.
Garcia said the five officials should be held administratively liable because they showed partiality, obvious bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence and caused unwarranted harm to any party, including the government, among others.
But PMVA, in a statement on Sunday, April 2, said the five officials were only performing their duties as veterinarians in accordance to relevant laws and regulations.
It added that the respondents adhered to the provisions provided by the DA Administrative Circular 2, Series of 2022, regarding the National Zoning and Movement Plan for the Prevention and Control of African Swine Fever, and the DA Administrative Circular 12, Series of 2022, regarding the Movement Plan for the Prevention and Control of African Swine Fever that was supported by Presidential Directive Administrative Order 22 Series of 2020.
These two administrative circulars directed all government agencies and local government units (LGUs) to strictly implement and comply with the national zoning against ASF.
PMVA said the National Government’s policy of eradicating ASF, particularly the “culling of infected and exposed animals within a prescribed radius from the place of outbreak,” is an internationally accepted practice to stop the spread of the viral hog disease.
It added that a proper forum with emphasis on science and internationally accepted standards could have been done instead, to iron out the questions raised over the testing of the swine and the response protocol against the disease.
It said the virus can survive in the environment for a long period of time and in pork and pork products that were not cooked at a temperature of 70 degrees Celsius for at least 30 minutes.
Even though it poses no health risk to human consumption, the disease threatens the population and inventory of swine in the country.
On March 27, BAI announced that there 12 LGUs in Cebu that have ASF infection. These areas are the cities of Bogo, Carcar, Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, and Talisay, and the towns of Cordova, Liloan, Minglanilla, San Fernando, Sibonga, and Tuburan.
The case filed by Garcia on March 29 stemmed from the culling of pigs in Barangay Can-asujan in Carcar City to stop the spread of the virus.
Garcia accused the BAI officials of not doing a differential diagnosis to validate that the ASF virus was present in Carcar and not any other virus or infections, among others.
She said the BAI staff insisted with their culling and zoning map policies in spite of her directive of stopping the culling and indiscriminate testing of hogs. (EHP)