San Fernando, Pampanga – A battalion of army soldiers, backed up by uniformed policemen, has been engaged in a different kind of “war” – the fight against the Avian Influenza virus which could destroy the country’s poultry industry.
Earlier today, members of the 48th Infantry Battalion under Col. Carlos Bergonia joined officials and men of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF), the provincial government of Pampanga, the local government units, the Bureau of Fire Protection of the Office of Civil Defense and the Department of Health in containing a poultry virus which has already killed about 37,000 ducks, quails and poultry in San Luis town in Pampanga since April this year.
Their task is to help in culling about 500,000 more chicken and ducks in about 36 farms located within the 1 kilometre radii of the “contained area” where the virus was initially discovered including those inside the 7-kilometer “controlled” radius where farm owners have volunteered to have their fowls culled.
The help of the army soldiers and the policemen was sought because of the huge number of fowls which have to be culled as soon as possible to prevent the spread of the virus.
With the help of the army soldiers and policemen, the remaining 500,000 fowls are expected to be culled in three days.
After the fowls are disposed of, bio-security teams will disinfect the farms using sprayers provided by the DAF and those which were donated by private groups.
Twenty-one days after the disinfection, sentinel birds will be placed in the affected farms and observed up to two weeks after which, if the sentinel birds will not show manifestations of the virus, the area will be declared cleared.
Farmers in the area, however, will not be allowed to raise chicken and ducks until after a 90-day period following international disease control protocols.
The shipment of poultry and poultry products from Luzon to other parts of the country will be lifted within the next two to three weeks if no other incidents of Bird Flu outbreak will be reported in the area or other areas.
Next week, on orders of President Rody Duterte, the Agriculture Department will start compensating farmers whose fowls were culled in the clean-up process.
Ducks and layer chicken will be valued at P80 per head, broiler chicken valued at P70 and quails P10 per head.
President Duterte has approved a Calamity Assistance of P100-M for the farmers while the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Department of Labor and Employment and the DAF will provide funds for livelihood projects.
(Photos of the first 30 army soldiers deployed in San Luis with DAF officials taken by the Bureau of Animal Industry.)
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