GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- The provincial government of South Cotabato is working on the reactivation of its special task force against avian influenza or bird flu to coordinate efforts in preventing the entry of the disease in any part of the province.
Dr. Flora Bigot, acting head of the Provincial Veterinary Office, said Tuesday they are set to convene the members of the task force to facilitate the implementation of necessary measures in the wake of the declared bird flu outbreak in Pampanga.
She said they will initially review and update the protocols as well as mechanisms of the special body, which is dubbed Provincial Avian Influenza Task force.
The task force was created by the provincial government 10 years ago in response to the national government’s calls for proactive actions on the problem.
Its composite team is spearheaded by personnel from the Provincial Veterinary Office and involve representatives from the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Philippine National Police, Department of Agriculture (DA), and the area’s city and municipal governments.
Bigot said they have intensified their monitoring activities to ensure the proper implementation of the ban on the entry of live fowl, egg and meat products within the province’s 10 towns and lone city.
"There is an order on the restriction of accepting poultry products from Luzon as of this moment until the outbreak is contained,” she said.
She said they have alerted their inspection posts in the province’s entry and exit points.
Last week, she said boxes of chicken meat and eggs from Luzon were confiscated in Cagayan De Oro City following the DA’s confirmation of the bird flu outbreak in San Luis, Pampanga.
With the reactivation of the task force in the next few days, Bigot said they will strengthen their collaboration with other stakeholders and disease surveillance activities.
“We will implement mechanisms that will facilitate appropriate ways of taking actions on the matter,” she said.
She said they will visit the municipalities of Norala, Tantangan and Banga this week to meet with local officials and enlist their active cooperation.
The towns of Norala and Tantangan border Tacurong City in Sultan Kudarat, where a sanctuary of migratory birds is located.
Banga hosts a number of large poultry farms and produces the most number of chickens in South Cotabato.
As of Tuesday, Bigot said the province remains negative of bird flu based on the regular blood sampling that they conducted in local poultry farms.
South Cotabato has an inventory of more than one million heads of chickens, ducks, and other poultry animals.
She urged the public to immediately report any suspicious cases among backyard and poultry farms in the province.
"If you notice growers losing 15 percent of their chickens, it could indicate an attack by infectious diseases,” she explained.
Aside from the monitoring of poultry farms, she said they have been tracking the movement of ducks and requires the issuance of avian influenza certificates for such purpose.(PNA)
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