DA to ask for more funds following ASF outbreak in Davao Occidental —Dar

The Department of Agriculture (DA) will have to ask for additional funding from the government as it tries to address the recent African swine fever (ASF) outbreak in a town in Davao Occidental.

In a Dobol B sa News TV interview aired on GMA News TV on Saturday, Agriculture Secretary William Dar said while the department is not running out of funds, they may still need additional budget considering that some amounts have already been used for disaster management efforts like that in the Taal Volcano eruption.

"We will have to ask additional budget for this purpose," Dar said.

"Hindi [tayo] kinakapos. 'Yung budget, nandiyan pero itong taon ay ang daming kalamidad. 'Di ba, Taal, nangyari na. So merong budget ang gobyerno," he added.

In a memorandum issued January 31, Don Marcelino, Davao Occidental Mayor Michael Maruya said the continuing incidence of ASF in the town has caused "the mortality of more or less 1,000 heads of swine."

Dar said the DA will provide financial help to hog raisers amid the ASF outbreak. The DA will give P5,000 per hog that will have to be depopulated.

"We have mobilized our teams since early yesterday. Nakipag-ugnayan na kay Gov. [Claude] Bautista so everything is in place. Na-cordon off na 'yung lugar at quarantine measures are really stepped up," Dar said.

The DA will also implement a 1-7-10 protocol, Dar said. Under the protocol, quarantine checkpoints are set up in areas within a 1-kilometer radius of suspected farms—monitoring the movement of live pigs, pork, and pork products.

Within a 7-kilometer radius, authorities are conducting surveillance and limiting animal movement.

Farm owners within the 10-kilometer radius are mandated to report any disease to the DA. —Erwin Colcol/KG, GMA News