Emergency declaration sought to fight African swine fever
MANILA, Philippines — The agriculture department is stepping up its fight against the African swine fever (ASF), this time asking President Rodrigo Duterte to declare a state of national emergency in a desperate bid to contain the pig disease that depleted pork supplies.
It was unclear at the moment what such proclamation would do. In previous instances, a national emergency on COVID-19 allowed Duterte to repurpose funds for response, but that requires legislators’ approval.
In ASF however, Agriculture Secretary William Dar is looking to “rehabilitate” the local hog industry by boosting “biosecurity measures.” A draft declaration has been sent to Malacañang for approval.
“The declaration of a state of national emergency would mandate and capacitate concerned government agencies, including the local government units (LGUS) to work together to prevent and control the further spread of ASF,” Dar wrote in his memo to the president.
The government is scrambling to contain the fallout from ASF, a two-year struggle that killed over 4 million pigs, the impact of which is now being felt through tight pork supplies. Meat inflation has accelerated, pushing food costs and over-all inflation to a 2-year high in February.
If issued, a national emergency will come on top of other measures unveiled to resolve the lingering pig crisis. In February, Duterte, upon Dar’s advice, put a 60-day price cap on pork and chicken products in Metro Manila. Those price controls will expire April 8, and while the capital region’s prices have gone down, those in other areas have gone up.
That was a result of another measure: the domestic importation of pigs from the provinces to the National Capital Region (NCR) to replenish supplies. As a result of that still-continuing deliveries, inflation in areas sending out their pigs to NCR have seen prices tick up beyond the central bank’s 2-4% target for the year.
Finally, there is a plan to lift import limits on pork as well as lowering their tariffs. This plan is contained in a draft executive order (EO) also submitted for Duterte’s approval, but is heavily opposed by senators that fear an influx of pork from abroad will put local hog raisers at a disadvantage.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said there is “no update yet” on whether the EO will be issued once allowed by law when Congress goes on break March 27.
Based on DA’s monitoring, ASF already reach 12 regions and 40 provinces in the country to date.
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