TARLAC CITY – Tarlac 2nd District Rep. Victor Yap has lamented the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) “lack of clear rules” on hot meat for the spread of the African swine flu (ASF) in the country.
“As long as there are no clear rules, people will smuggle locally and internationally. The DA has to adopt a better protocol of control for sanitation, for transport, and domestic sales,” he said.
Yap said that at present, “the small ones (sellers) will pass through minor and back roads, sell inconspicuously and endanger farms in the places [they traverse], explained Yap, adding that such set up “is killing the industry.”
Over 52,000 pigs have already been culled by the DA in response to the ASF outbreak, mostly in Bulacan and Pangasinan.
Tarlac has so far been spared from ASF, as Yap noted that In Tarlac “they have adopted a superior one (protocol). Yet the outbreak to other areas such as Tarlac will only be a matter of time, they say.”
Yap further said that the local government units cannot dictate rules and protocols in place of the DA, especially if the rules they are implementing aren’t tried and tested.
“Are they (DA) even spending time to talk with the industry [stakeholders] and create local workshops to battle this ASF at the very least in the Luzon markets?” he asked.
