Press Release
March 10, 2021

PRIVILEGE SPEECH OF SEN. FRANCIS "KIKO" PANGILINAN NATIONAL STATE OF CALAMITY DUE TO ASF
Walang babuyan, no hogwash in finding solutions to ASF

Mr. President, colleagues, good afternoon. I rise today on a matter of personal and collective privilege on the issue of literally, walang babuyan.

Dahil sa patuloy na pagkalat ng sakit na African swine fever at dahil milyon-milyon na na mga baboy ang kusang pinapatay upang mabawasan ang pagkalat nito, konti ang supply ng baboy sa palengke. At dahil konti ang supply, mataas ang presyo ng baboy.

At dahil sa tinatawag na Covid ng mga baboy, gusto nang sumurender ng ating mga magbababoy o hog-raisers.

Malapit na silang umabot sa puntong ayawan na. Wala na lang babuyan.

The failure to contain the African swine fever has caused pork prices to remain high at an average of 450 pesos per kilo since January this year. Information that was relayed to us on the streets is that price per kilo is increasing 10 pesos every week. And it has resulted in the loss of 56 billion pesos to the swine industry that is over 70 percent backyard small hog-raisers.

Before ASF struck 20 months ago in July 2019, the swine industry used to bring home the bacon amounting to 248 billion pesos annually. Among the stakeholders are -- from DA's presentation and the hearing yesterday -- 68,382 farmers who augment their income by raising these symbols of plenty and festivity.

Malaking bagay sa kita ng ating mga magsasaka -- ang mga nagpapakain sa atin -- ang sitwasyong walang babuyan or backyard farms.

Help has come in trickles, hampered further by the restrictions of movement due to Covid. At the onset of ASF, while people in communities try to secure their perimeters against the spread of the disease, the wider and larger borders were left open. Imports continue to flow, smuggling of pork continued, and checks on the quality of imported pork was lax.

Sabi nga ng mga experto malaki ang posibilidad na ang ASF ay pumasok sa bansa dahil na rin sa infected, unchecked, smuggled imported pork.

How much was given to the hog-raisers and when did the aid begin? Before they received the aid, the hog population has been wiped out due to culling. What can 10,000 pesos do? Will they even risk breeding again when the threat remains that the butchers will one day come again and cull these pigs.

Culling should not have been widespread, but territory-based. DA data supports this: ASF infection is found in 12 of the country's 17 regions, but if we go more granular, the picture is very different. ASF was found in only 2,402 of the country's 42,046 barangays. Kayang i-contain.

Of the thousands of pigs culled, reports have said that only about 30 percent or less were infected. This is due to the lack of testing centers.

At yesterday's Senate committee hearing on food prices, chaired by our Committee on Agriculture chairperson, Senator Villar, we heard hog-raisers cry about losses in pigs culled (4.7 million), losses in income (altogether 56 billion pesos), and loss of motivation to raise hogs.

Former congressman Nick Briones, vice president of the Pork Producers Federation, summed up the situation clearly. Sabi niya: "Maaari pong kusa na naming i-surrender ang aming mga baboy 'pag dumating muli sa pagkalugi sa kabila ng mga nangyayari sa amin. Ganito po ang aming aabutin: Baka po i-deliver na po namin ang baboy libre sa DA para lang sabihin naming kami'y sawa na po sa pahirap na inaabot dahil po sa importation, sa sobrang smuggling; at ito pong hindi mapigil na pagkalat ng African swine fever."

Ganito rin ang sinabi sa atin ng mga hog-raisers na nakausap natin: Pag lugi pa ulit sila ngayon, hindi na sila makakabalik sa pagbababoy.

At sa mga solusyong pinapatupad, dagdag pasanin ang ilan sa mga ito para sa lokal na industriya ng magbababoy.

Kapag umasa tayo lamang sa import, hindi lang mawawalan ng kita ang ating mga kababayan, hindi rin tayo makakasiguro sa walang-patid na ekstrang supply mula sa mga bayang nag-e-export nito. Pag nangyari yun, wala ng babuyan, wala pang baboy.

Increasing the pork import quota and lowering the tariff are stop-gap measures that will not address the long-term challenges of the industry. Government's primary objective should not be focused simply on lowering pork prices.

In fairness, they have presented a plan to address the Covid of the hog-raisers, and ASF, yet based on their presentation, kulang ang budget.

Our objective must be to keep prices low in the long-term by ensuring steady supply. And that can only happen if we keep our food producers happy and productive and earning. To secure our pork supply, we must secure our pork producers, 70 percent of whom are backyard hog farmers.

That's why we thank the Senate agriculture committee chairperson, Senator Cynthia Villar, and our colleagues as the committee adopted our motion urging the agriculture department to have the President declare a national state of emergency due to the ASF.

Ano po ang ibig sabihin nitong declaration?

Unang-una, magkakaroon ng pagkilala na matindi at malala ang problema. At kaakibat nito, malalagyan ng pondo at resources ang mga solusyon sa pagsugpo ng sakit.

This means we can use the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (NDRRM Fund) and the Quick Response Fund created by RA 10121, or the "Philippine Disaster Reduction and Management Act of 2010".

This will also afford the DA, as well as LGUs, and other concerned agencies, ample latitude to use appropriate funds, including the Quick Response Fund, calamity funds to address the ASF outbreak.

The Department of Agriculture launched last month its INSPIRE (Integrated National Swine Production Initiatives for Recovery and Expansion) and BABAy ASF (Bantay ASF sa Barangay)?programs. The declaration will put these programs on steroids, so to speak.

The INSPIRE program is to be implemented from 2021 to 2023 with an estimated 61.33 billion pesos required as the budget. But as per DA for 2021 only 2.6 billion pesos of the estimated 8.6 billion pesos needed is available, thus emphasizing the urgency of declaring a state of emergency so the remaining 6 billion pesos can either be sourced from the calamity funds, the disaster funds, or the realignment of?savings.

Saan po pwedeng kunin ang pondo?

Pursuant to Article VI, Section 25(5) and Section 66 of the 2021 General Appropriations Act, the President may also declare and use savings in their respective appropriations to augment actual deficiencies, which may be additional requirements for a program, activity or project in view of a declaration of a state of national calamity.

Pangatlo, i-set up na ang indemnity fund under the emergency.

Isama na rin sa INSPIRE at BABAy ASF Program ang direct temporary hiring ng mga backyard hog-raisers sa pagbabantay ng spread ng ASF at iba pang mga programa. Ginawa rin natin ito noong panahon ng pagkalat ng tinatawag na pesteng cocolisap.

We allocated cash-for-work that mobilized coconut farmers to implement the integrated pest management protocols in their respective barangays thus augmenting or replacing their lost incomes due to non-harvesting of infected trees. They were given the opportunity to address the problem and be paid for it with a cash-for-work program.

Sabi sa aklat ni George Orwell na Animal Farm, "Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself."

Ibig sabihin, ang tao may kakayanang mag-isip at magpatupad ng maayos na sistema. Gawin natin ito sa problema ng ASF at pork supply. Solusyon na masusing pinag-isipan at mahusay na ipapatupad.

At hindi tayo dapat magpatinag sa ASF, tulad nang hindi tayo dapat magpatinag sa Covid.

May karanasan na tayo noong mga nakaraang panahon na humarap sa mga epidemya tulad ng foot and mouth disease noong 1995 na kumalat sa dalawampu't pitong probinsya sa buong Pilipinas. With the massive epidemic that hit Luzon in 1995, the President of the Republic declared the whole of Luzon a calamity area in June of 1995 through an Executive Order and appropriating funds to control and eradication of FMD. This paved the way for a vigorous and sustained effort to control and eradicate the disease which we succeeded in doing.

Ganun din sa cocolisap outbreak noong 2014 na tumama sa mahigit 20 milyong puno ng niyog sa Calabarzon at Basilan. Naglabas din ng Executive Order and pangulo, pinakilos ang PCA, ang mga eksperto ng UP Los Baños, mga LGUs upang magkaroon ng integrated pest management intervention na naging matagumpay dahil sa loob ng anim na buwan, ay naipababa ang hotspots mula 58 hotspots sa Calabarzon sa isang hotspot. Naglaan din ng halagang 400 million [pesos] ang Malacañang noon galing sa savings upang madagdagan ang pondo para sa pagsugpo ng cocolisap.

Kinaya natin noon, walang dahilan kung bakit hindi natin kakayanin na masolusyunan ngayon.

Parang Covid talaga itong ASF. Wipe out ang mga baboy. Wipe out ang kita. Pero ang solusyon, nasa focus, nasa focus sa mga front-liner, and in this case, ang ating magbababoy, nasa focus sa mabilis na pag-download ng mga resources -- para man yan sa testing o sa bio-safety protocols.

Pag ganito, di lang importer ang magpapalechon pag may kasal o birthday o anniversary, at syempre pag Pasko, kung hindi lahat ng Pilipino.

Lahat ng Pilipino makakapaglechon kasi deserve natin ito.

In closing, Mr. President, again we would like to reiterate that we filed Senate Resolution 676 and it was referred today to the Committee on Agriculture and Food as well as the Committee on Finance.

However, for the information of our colleagues, in the hearing yesterday, and with the support of our chairman of the Committee of Agriculture, we adopted a motion, and it was duly seconded, a motion to urge the Department of Agriculture to recommend to the President the declaration of a nationwide state of calamity because of ASF.

May we appeal therefore to our colleagues that if we can reconsider the referral and address the matter in plenary so that we can be, subject to style, the sense of the Senate resolution urging the Department of Agriculture to recommend to the President a nationwide declaration of a state of calamity due to ASF so that immediately we can respond with additional support with our livestock and hog industry.

Maraming salamat, Mr. President, distinguished Majority Leader, and thank you, colleagues.

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