Piñol’s hasty conclusion

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol should have waited for advice from experts and scientists before issuing a statement that there was an outbreak of bird flu in Pampanga province.

So far, only six barangays in San Luis town have been affected by what appears to be a plague — “peste” in Filipino — affecting chickens.

Piñol’s pronouncement of a bird flu epidemic in the province has prompted Gov. Lilia “Baby” Pineda to declare a state of calamity.

Poultry raisers in Pampanga are losing tens of millions of pesos daily, according to Pineda.

Piñol said migratory birds from China which settled in the vast Candaba swamp could have brought the disease into the country.

But former Candaba town Mayor Jerry Pelayo, who made the swamp a protected area, disagrees with the agriculture secretary, saying migratory birds from China start arriving in October to escape from the winter season.

“Historically, bird flu cases in other countries only happen during winter. The bird flu virus doesn’t survive in temperatures above 28 degrees celsius as mentioned by experts,” he said.

Based on records from the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, the highest temperature this month is 36 degrees celsius.

Pelayo, who claims he has a lot of experience when it comes to avian flu, deplored Piñol’s hasty conclusion that there was an epidemic in Pampanga.

“May we know if the tests have been confirmed by scientific tests here and abroad?” he asked.

According to Pelayo, the Philippines has been free of bird flu for a long time.

“The government should have consulted experts and scientists first before confirming that there is indeed a bird flu (epidemic) in Pampanga,” he said.

Australia, the former Candaba mayor said, is the only country in Asia which has experts on the disease.

Piñol could have waited for the results of tests from Australia, if there was any conducted on dead chicken, before he made the announcement, Pelayo said.

In reaction, Piñol told the former mayor to shut up.

He said Pelayo should not interfere in government work since he is no longer mayor.

That, dear readers, was an outrageously irrelevant and impertinent reaction to a valid protest.

Piñol should have answered Pelayo’s question of whether or not his pronouncement of a bird flu epidemic in Pampanga was backed by scientific studies.

Yes, Pelayo is no longer mayor of Candaba town where duck-raising is the main livelihood of the people, but he knows whereof he speaks because he is a rabid protector of avian life in the swamp.

Even before Piñol’s term, Pelayo was always in close touch in agriculture officials to make the province free from bird flu.

What Piñol could have done was to quarantine San Luis town to prevent the peste from spreading instead of imposing a total ban on the sale of chicken and eggs in the whole of Pampanga.

That way, he would have saved the poultry industry in the province and the whole of Luzon.