Malacañang urged to fund ‘CPR’ plan vs avian flu

A pro-administration congressman urged Malacañang yesterday to provide funds for its "CPR" plan, not against street protesters but against the bird flu virus.

Palawan Rep. Abraham Mitra said while the government has drawn up a program to fight avian flu, this remains to be funded.

"There is no funding in the proposed P1-trillion 2006 budget. But it is not yet late for Malacañang to request the realignment of some items in the budget while the measure is still being heard in the House," he said.

Mitra, vice chairman of the House appropriations committee, said another way is to give President Arroyo standby authority to realign funds in the event bird flu hits the country.

"This can be done through a special provision in the budget. She is not asking for it but this can be Congress’ pro-active contribution in fighting an imminent threat. There is no politics in this, only public interest," he said.

Under Executive Order 280, the President created an inter-agency task force that would handle a possible avian flu outbreak.

The concerned agencies led by the Department of Health have come up with a document labeled "CPR" — not for "calibrated preemptive response" that the police have been using to break up street protests, but for "comprehensive preparedness and response."

"The plan calls for a commensurate response to every imaginable emergency scenario caused by the entry of bird flu in the country. That beautiful plan anticipates all possible scenarios, from the benign to the worst. The problem is how to fund it," Mitra said.

He said the Department of Agriculture’s P3.2-billion proposed budget for next year or the P10.5 billion requested by the health department would be "puny if we are hit hard by bird flu."

He added that the United States government has set aside $3 billion for avian flu research and for the development of vaccines alone.

He said there have been estimates from various health groups, including the World Health Organization, that up to 150 people worldwide, mostly from Asia, could die if the bird flu virus mutates into one that can be transmitted human-to-human and if a global pandemic ensues.

Meanwhile, Bulacan’s provincial veterinarian clarified yesterday that there is yet no definitive conclusion as to what killed 50 chickens in a backyard farm in Barangay Frances in Calumpit, Bulacan last Friday.

The chicken farm is located some two kilometers from Barangay Pungo where 250 ducks were earlier found infected with a mild, non-fatal strain of the avian flu virus.

Provincial veterinarian Dr. Jose Carillo, however, told The STAR he did not impose quarantine in the affected area after initial observation showed that the chickens never exhibited any symptoms of flu.

"Because of this, I do not think that the deaths could have been triggered by the bird flu," he said.

Tests on the blood of the affected chickens also revealed they were not infected by any virus, BAI officials reported last Saturday.

Carillo quoted the owner of the poultry farm as saying that his chickens died one after the other four hours after he mixed what he believed to be antibiotics with water for his fowls in one cage. — With Ding Cervantes