P122 M earmarked to keep bird flu out

The government has created a P122.8-million fund to keep bird flu out of the country.

Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya said the fund, part of the soon-to-be-signed 2007 national budget, will be made available to five government agencies, led by the Department of Agriculture, to implement the Avian Influenza Protection Program.

The program will focus on monitoring areas at risk of infection from migratory birds, upgrading laboratories, building up rapid-action capability in case of an outbreak and other activities, he said.

Other parts of the budget, such as the government’s calamity fund, could be tapped in the event of an outbreak, Andaya said.

Under the program, the agriculture department will coordinate with the health, environment and natural resources, trade and industry, and local government departments to keep the country avian flu-free.

Earlier the health department drafted a bird flu response plan that details actions to be taken by each department, in coordination with an interagency task force, during four "danger-level scenarios," said Dr. Lydon Lee Suy, the health department’s avian flu program chief.

Meanwhile, the National Avian Influenza Task Force (NAITF) has acquired 4,080 sets of personal protective equipment for its personnel nationwide.

Dr. Laarni Cabantac, assistant coordinator of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) task force, said the 4,080 sets of personal protective equipment would be used to protect NAITF personnel from bird flu contamination.

Cabantac said a regional animal disease diagnostic laboratory was also established in Pampanga this month to allow the rapid screening of bird flu virus among fowls.

The test results would still be submitted to the BAI in Manila for confirmation, she added.

Cabantac said the laboratory and the process of confirmation at the BAI central office would prevent false alarms similar to that which happened two years ago in a duck farm in Calumpit, Bulacan.

Funds for the construction of the laboratory were donated by New Zealand, she added.

Cabantac said the laboratory would house equipment called Realtime Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RRT-PCR) recently acquired by the Department of Agriculture.

Two BAI personnel are now training in Vietnam on the use of the equipment, she added.

The NAITF has been conducting sectoral and institutional talks, symposia, simulation exercises with medical and veterinary practitioners and concerned agencies as part of its campaign against bird flu.

Information materials have also been published in English, Tagalog, Ilonggo, Ilocano, Cebuano and Muslim languages for distribution to people living in areas frequented by migratory birds, the main carriers of bird flu virus.

The Philippines, Singapore and Brunei are the only countries in Southeast Asia without bird flu cases.

Meanwhile, Bulacan provincial veterinarian Felipe Bartolome reminded duck raisers in his province that the ordinance on avian influenza prevention and control passed last year by the provincial board remains in effect.

"The ordinance also prohibits the buying and selling as well as the possession of unregistered exotic birds," he said.

The ordinance bans grazing ducks in areas near the Candaba swamp from October to the following April every year.

Violators face fines of not less than P1,000 but not more than P5,000, or imprisonment of not less than one month but not more than one year or both based upon the discretion of the court.

Candaba swamp hosts thousands of migratory birds fleeing from the cold of neighboring countries during such months.

Affected by the ordinance are the municipalities of San Miguel, San Ildefonso, San Rafael, Baliuag, Plaridel, Pulilan, Calumpit, Hagonoy and Paombong which either partly cover or are at the periphery of the Candaba swamp.

The bird flu virus has killed or prompted the slaughter of millions of birds across Asia since late 2003, and caused the deaths of at least 165 people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

Bird flu remains hard for humans to catch, but international experts fear it may mutate into a form that could spread easily between humans and potentially kill millions around the world.

The Philippines remains free of the bird flu virus. –Paolo Romero, Ding Cervantes, AP