Angara urges gov’t to use P1-B quick response fund to address ASF

Senator Juan Edgardo Angara urged Wednesday the government to “break the glass of emergency fund” to stop the spread of the African swine fever (ASF).

Angara, chairman of the Senate finance committee, said the Department of Agriculture has P1 billion in Quick Response Funds (QRF) under this year’s Calamity Fund that it can tap to implement the containment protocol against a disease.

“This ASF is by all accounts a calamity. It may not have the dramatic footage that typhoons create, but in terms of damage to livelihood, and the households affected, it is just as damaging,” he said.

He added stopping the spread of ASF must be done immediately before it engulfs the entire industry and endanger the jobs of tens of thousands of people.

“If agriculture disasters like pests, droughts and ASF are rated, the latter has the potential of becoming a high-category calamity,” he said.

The senator said funding for anti-ASF measures can be sourced from the P20 billion National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund, more commonly known as the Calamity Fund.

He said under the fund, the DA is assigned P1 billion in QRF, “which by their nature, should have been forward-deployed to these agencies.”

He said it was only on September 10 that the Department of Budget and Managed released P82.5 million to the DA to carry out measures to “arrest and abate” the spread of ASF.

Angara said 35% of the amount or P32 million will be spent to boost security screening measures at the international airports while P28 million will go to laboratory testing of meat and meat products.

“It is good that we’re strengthening our quarantine curtains, but what we lack are funds to fight ASF on the ground lalo na ngayon na fully mobilized na ang mga local governments.  In the future, ito siguro ang mangangailangan ng pondo,” he said.

He added if the ASF epidemic will worsen, and will down many farms, and some financial aid for those stricken is needed, then this can be included in the 2020 budget. 

The senator said another “point of interest” that the ASF outbreak has generated that both Congress and the executive branch should look into is how to strengthen food biosecurity and food safety measures.

“Kung kailangan ma-pondohan ang ganyang concern sa national budget, bukas ang Senado sa anumang suggestion from our friends in the DA,” Angara said. — Amita Legaspi/RSJ, GMA News