Health Undersecretary Epifanio Lacap said that law enforcers and quarantine officers are on a 24-hour watch to bar entry of imported chickens probably infected with the bird flu virus through the southern “back door.”
“We are in full high alert, imposing a round-the-clock watch, but so far, there is no sign of foreign chickens smuggled into any port in Mindanao,” Lacap told a forum here of local and national officials, barangay leaders and health authorities.
The undersecretary enplaned here the other day to assess the readiness of the different government agencies in protecting the Mindanao from the entry of the virus through imported chickens with the avian virus.
“I am satisfied by the preparations made by our government agencies led by Mayor Pedro Acharon and their vigilance for the lookout of or even signs of the bird flu virus carried by imported fowls or migratory birds,” Lacap said.
Acharon had earlier said that the city cannot afford to have another disaster that could take the lives of his constituents and its horrible impact on the economy.
Aside from the different state agencies tasked to check the proliferation of the avian virus, Acharon said, he has also fielded the city’s own expanded intelligence network to detect any attempts to sneak in bird flu laden imported chicken or fowls especially from the afflicted countries.
The monitoring agencies were the Department of Health, Department of Agriculture, Quarantine Bureau, Bureau of Immigration, Bureau of Customs, PNP Aviation Security Group, PNP Maritime Group, Coast Guard, Philippine Navy, Philippine Air Force, Air Transportation Office, Philippine Ports Authority and the Intelligence Community.
As a proof of the government’s determination to prevent the entry of bird flu-carrying chicken from countries plagued by the virus, Lacap said, shipments of imported chickens were seized in a few ports in Luzon en route to Metro Manila.