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2017 WINNERS

AGRICULTURE PHOTO OF THE YEAR

"CATCH OF THE DAY"
ERWIN M. MASCARIÑAS
SUNSTAR CAGAYAN DE ORO

TOBACCO PHOTO OF THE YEAR

"DRYING TOBACCO"
LAILA D. AUSTRIA
BUSINESS MIRROR
AGRICULTURE STORY OF THE YEAR
“CACAO SPECIAL”
KARREN MONTEJO, PRODUCER
AGRI TAYO DITO - ABS-CBN REGIONAL
The Philippines already exports Cacao to various corners of the world. And, with the impending shortage of cacao supply in the world, the cacao industry has taken on the Cacao Challenge of 2022. That is, to increase production of cacao and address this global shortage.
TOBACCO STORY OF THE YEAR
“GOURMET OIL, BIO-DIESEL AND ORGANIC PESTICIDE: THE FUTURE OF PROCESSED TOBACCO”
IAN OCAMPO FLORA
SUNSTAR PAMPANGA
Processed tobacco can be used as biofuel, gourmet oil, as an organic alternative to chemical pesticides, and, tobacco dust can be used for the sterilization of fishponds. But, there is still a lack of support from government and the business sector to fully explore these opportunities that could potentially provide additional income for tobacco farmers.
FULL STORY
2017 TOBACCO STORY OF THE YEAR AWARD
TOBACCO STORY OF THE YEAR

“Gourmet oil, bio-diesel and organic pesticide: The Future of Processed Tobacco”

IAN OCAMPO FLORA

SunStar Pampanga


Imagine yourself efficiently driving your car fuelled by a mix of tobacco biofuel and latter in the day enjoying your favorite green salad, with vegetables organically grown with tobacco fertilizer, served with a generous mix of mint-smelling food oil made from tobacco seeds.



Soon, with a little more push in the field of tobacco research, one need not imagine to be able to enjoy such processed tobacco products. In fact, some of these products are already in use in some areas and industries both here and abroad.



One clear example is the country’s aquaculture sector that has long been recommending the use of tobacco dust for pond sterilization with tobacco as an organic alternative to chemicals and synthetic pesticides.



There were also international studies conducted to ascertain the viability of using tobacco for the production of oil used in biofuel and the results are very promising. Others are in a bid to promote gourmet oil from tobacco seeds in the same league of other well known cooking oils.



Technological demonstrations by the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) in the northern regions have recommended tobacco dust for use during the preparation or sterilization of fishponds before the stocking of fingerlings.



The study of David D. Kuhn et. al in 2014 showed that tobacco dust is an effective molluscicide in aquaculture applications and can eliminate freshwater snails. Kuhn’s team affirmed the reliability of dusts from tobacco types like burley, flue-cured, truck burley, and truck flue-cured in exterminating snails.



Even the officials of the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) affirmed the usefulness of tobacco dust as an organic, readily degradable, and environment-friendly alternative to chemical pesticides that leave chemical residues and pollution.



However, while there were successful field tests on the usefulness of tobacco dust in Bulacan, Pampanga, Bataan, Pangasinan and Ilocos Sur, access to tobacco dust is actually difficult for the first three provinces from Central Luzon.



Pangasinan and Ilocos Sur have access to the tobacco dust because these provinces are tobacco growing areas. More than half of the provinces in Central Luzon have ceased to produce tobacco. The last time that tobacco was planted in Pampanga was in the height of the Tobacco Monopoly in the 17th century.



Pampanga fish pond owner Jose Velencia said that he once tried using tobacco dust on his ponds and found it very effective. However, the difficulty of obtaining dust for regular use proved to be difficult.



“The nearest places that grow tobacco are some towns in Tarlac and Nueva Ecija. You can get stalks only after the leaves are harvested but still you would need to have a way to turn these to tobacco dust. Also the time, distance and effort to obtain discarded tobacco parts is not cost efficient,” Valencia said in vernacular.



But Valencia noted that if only there was an efficient way to access tobacco dust, it would surely create a market especially in Pampanga. The province has a fish production of 150,000 metric tons yearly and these accounts for nearly four percent of the country’s fisheries production.



Valencia said that, while there is no real commercial effort to make tobacco dust readily accessible, there would never be a market for this viable by-product of processed tobacco.



Another exciting prospect is the use of tobacco for the production of gourmet oil. An article of Carmela B. Brion of the Bureau of Agriculture Research notes that tobacco seed oil may soon be on the commercial shelves of local supermarkets, along with oils made from sunflower, coconut, soybean, corn and canola.



“Consumers need not worry, for it has been reported that tobacco seed oil is free from nicotine, and remarkably, 70 percent of the tobacco seed contains protein, carbohydrate, and crude fiber,” Briones said.



Tobacco seed oil is free from toxic substances and has been widely used in Bulgaria, Turkey, Tunisia and Greece as edible oil.



This same usefulness of tobacco seeds has drawn attention to their possible potential for use in biofuel. The oil in a tobacco seeds is about roughly 40 percent by weight but the yield is relative low compare to other sources of biofuel.



But unlike tobacco dust, there is more commercial and private sector support for the development of modified tobacco for production of biofuel. Airline companies and research institutes are investing resources to make tobacco a stable source of biofuel in bid to bring down fuel prices and help the environment.



In fact much effort has been made that there has been developments in the research of tobacco oil. Agricultural engineer Ruth Sanz-Barrio has demonstrated, for the first time, in her recent research the viability of using specific tobacco proteins as biotechnological tools in plants through genetic modification.



Despite all of these, tobacco dust, gourmet oil, and biofuel remain merely only bright prospects if there are no real business sector and government support to institutionalize these on a commercial scale as well as fund research and development efforts to make them more accessible and commercially viable. And with the possibility of creating more income for the estimated 43,960 tobacco farmers and their 300,000 dependents and spawning new industries and products from tobacco, these prospects are just too tempting to ignore.
BEST AGRICULTURE TV PROGRAM/SEGMENT
“FARM MECHANIZATION SPECIAL”
KARREN MONTEJO
AGRI TAYO DITO - ABS-CBN REGIONAL
This episode discussed modern agriculture and programs of the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization or PHILMEC share with local farmers modern farming machinery and tehcnology. Though there are still some hurdles with traditional farmers, there is hope that modern techniques will attract the youth to go into the agriculture sector.
FULL STORY
2017 BEST AGRICULTURE TV PROGRAM OR SEGMENT
BEST AGRICULTURE TV PROGRAM OR SEGMENT

“Farm Mechanization Special”

KARREN MONTEJO

Agri Tayo Dito - ABS-CBN Regional


PRIMER

VO: MALALAWAK NA SAKAHAN ANG IYONG MADADATNAN KAHIT SAAN KA MAN MAPUNTA SA BUONG KAPULU-AN NG PILIPINAS. PARANG NASA DULO NG BAHAGHARI ANG ATING MGA LUPAIN DAHIL SA MGA GININTUANG YAMAN NA TUMUTUBO KAHIT PA MAN SAANG SULOK KA TUMINGIN. BIYAYA NG DIYOS NA TUNAY NATING MAIPAGMAMALAKI! SA BUONG MUNDO, ISA ANG ATING BANSA SA MAY PINAKAMALAWAK NA LUPAING NAKALAAN SA PAG-AAGRIKULTURA. KUNG KAYA NAMAN MALAKING BAHAGI NG ATING KULTURA AT PAMUMUHAY AY DITO NAKA-ANGKLA.

VO: IN THE PHILIPPINES, YOU CAN FIND WIDE FIELDS EVERYWHERE YOU GO. IT LOOKS AS IF OUR LAND IS AT THE TIP OF A RAINBOW BECAUSE OF OUR RICH NATURAL RESOURCES. THESE ARE BLESSINGS FROM GOD THAT WE SHOULD PROUD OF! AMONG ALL OTHER COUNTRIES, THE PHILIPPINES HAS THE WIDEST LAND AREA FIT FOR AGRICULTURE, WHICH IS SOLELY ROOTED IN OUR CULTURE AND LIFESTYLE.



VO: BILANG ISANG PILIPINO, ABA’Y SINONG HINDI MAKAKALIMOT SA SIKAT NA KANTANG ITO NUNG NASA ELEMENTARYA PA TAYO? MADALAS PA NGA ITONG PINAPATUGTOG DIBA LALO NA PAG BUWAN NG WIKA AT MAY MGA PROPS PA TAYO NA SUMBRERONG BURI AT KALABAW. NAKAKAPAGOD ANG MAGSAKA. MALAMANG ITO ANG IMPRESYONG NABUO NG KANTANG ITO SA MARAMING KABATAAN. KUNG KAYA’T MARAHIL AY PATANDA NG PATANDA NA EDAD NG ATING MGA KA-AGRING PATULOY NA NAGSASAKA. MARAMI KASI SA ATING MGA KABATAAN NGAYON AY MAS NAEENGGANYO NG KUMUHA NG MGA KURSONG PANG-OPISINA O DI KAYA SA MGA KURSONG SA TINGIN NILA AY MAY MALAKING HATID NA KITA. PERO…DALA NG MABILIS NA PAG-USAD NG PANAHON, MARAMING MAKABAGO AT MODERNONG KAGAMITAN NA RIN ANG UMUUSBONG.

VO: AS A FILIPINO, WHO WOULDN’T FORGET THIS SONG WHICH WAS MADE FAMOUS BACK IN OUR ELEMENTARY DAYS? IT WAS USUALLY PLAYED DURING BUWAN NG WIKA PAIRED WITH PROPS SUCH AS A CARABAO AND A HAT MADE FROM ANAHAW. FARMING IS A TIRING ACTIVITY. MAYBE THAT IS THE IMPRESSION PERCEIVED BY THE YOUTH OUT FROM THE SONG. MAYBE THE REASON WHY MORE PEOPLE OF OLD AGE WORK AS FARMERS IS BECAUSE MOST OF THE YOUTH NOWADAYS PREFER TO TAKE CORPORATE COURSES OR OTHER COURSES WHICH THEY THINK WILL GIVE THEM A HIGH SALARY. BUT AS TIME GOES BY, CHANGES IN MODERN TECHNOLOGY CONTINUE TO PROGRESS.



ON CAM RUBEN[1]: MASAGANANG UMAGA MGA KA-AGRING KAPAMILYANG PINOY. HATID NAMIN SA INYO ANG MAKABAGONG PAG-ASA PARA SA MODERNONG PAG-AAGRIKULTURA.

ON CAM RUBEN: A BOUNTIFUL MORNING TO ALL OUR KA-AGRING KAPAMILYANG PINOY. WE BRING YOU THE LATEST UPDATES ABOUT MODERN AGRICULTURE.



VO: SIGURADONG MADALI NA LANG ANG PAGSASAKA DAHIL DI KA NA YUYUKO NG MAGHAPON KAKAKAYOD SA IYONG SAKAHAN…DAHIL NGAYONG UMAGA AY MAKAKAUSAP NATIN ANG ATING MGA KA-AGRING DALUBHASA NA PATULOY NA NAGSUSUMIKAP NA MAPALAGO PA NG HUSTO ANG ATING SEKTOR NG PAG-AAGRIKULTURA SA TULONG NGA MGA MODERNONG MAKINARYA AT TEKOLOHIYA.

VO: FARMING IS NOW EASIER BECAUSE YOU DON’T HAVE TO SPEND THE WHOLE DAY PLOWING THE FIELD, BECAUSE TODAY WE HAVE WITH US AGRICULTURAL EXPERTs WHO CONTINUE TO WORK HARD IN ORDER TO DEVELOP OUR AGRICULTURAL SECTOR WITH THE HELP OF MODERN MACHINERY AND TECHNOLOGY.







INTRODUCTION TO PHILMECH

VO: ISA ANG PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR POSTHARVEST DEVELOPMENT AND MECHANIZATION O PHILMECH SA MGA AHENSYA NG ATING PAMAHALAAN NA TUMUTULONG AT NAGBIBIGAY- KAALAMAN SA ATING MGA KA-AGRING MAGSASAKA AT MANGINGISDA NA MAKISABAY SA PANAWAGAN NG MODERNONG PAG-AAGRIKULTURA.

VO: THE PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR POSTHARVEST DEVELOPMENT AND MECHANIZATION, OR PHILMECH FOR SHORT, IS ONE OF THE GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, WHICH LEND A HELPING HAND TO OUR FIILIPINO FARMERS AND FISHERMEN WHO ARE KEEPING UP WITH MODERN AGRICULTURE.



ON CAM DIONISIO[1]: ANG PHILMECH AY ISANG AHENSYA NG GOBYERNO NA UNDER SA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. ANG AMING ROLE AY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT NG MGA MAKINARYA AT POSTHARVEST PARA SA ATING MGA MAGSASAKA. ANO ANG MAITUTULONG NG MEKANISASYON? KASI ANG MEKANISASYON ISA YAN PARA MAPABILIS NA NATIN AT MAPAGANDA ANG PAGHAHANDA NG LUPA. KAPAG MAGANDA ANG HANDA NG LUPA, MAGANDA ANG TANIM, MAGANDA ANG ANI.

ON CAM DIONISIO: PHILMECH IS A GOVERNMENT AGENCY UNDER THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. OUR ROLE IS ABOUT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF MACHINERY AND POSTHARVEST FOR OUR FARMERS. WHAT IS THE CONTRIBUTION OF MECHANIZATION? MECHANIZATION IS ONE WAY OF MAKING THE PROCESS OF PREPARING THE LAND EASIER AND FASTER. WHEN THE PROCESS IS WELL-PREPARED AND THE CROPS ARE HEALTHY, THE HARVEST IS ABUNDANT IN RETURN.



ON CAM DIONISIO: 10 YEARS AGO, ANG LEVEL NG MEKANISASYON NATIN AY MGA WALA PANG 1 HORSEPOWER. PERO NGAYON, DAHIL SA TULONG NG ATING GOBYERNO, TUMAAS ANG ANTAS NG MEKANISASYON NATIN. NASA ANTAS NA NG 2-3 HORSEPOWER PER HECTARE NA YUN

ON CAM DIONISIO: 10 YEARS AGO, THE LEVEL OF OUR MECHANIZATION STILL LACKS HORSEPOWER. BUT NOW, THROUGH THE HELP OF THE GOVERNMENT, THE STATUS OF OUR MECHANIZATION HAS UPGRADED AT THE LEVEL OF 2-3 HORSEPOWER PER HECTARE.



VO: PERO SA KABILA NG PAGSISIKAP NG PHILMECH AT NG ATING PAMAHALAAN NA TUGUNAN ANG TAWAG NG MAKABAGONG PAG-AAGRIKULTURA, HINDI NAGING MADALI PARA SA ATING MGA KA-AGRING DALUBHASA ANG PAGPAPAKILALA NG MGA INOBASYONG ITO SA MGA KA-AGRI NAMAN NATING NAKASANAYAN NA ANG TRADISYONAL NA PAMAMARAAN SA PAGSASAKA.

VO: BUT DESPITE THE EFFORTS OF PHILMECH AND OUR GOVERNMENT, IT IS NOT EASY FOR OUR FARM EXPERTS TO INTRODUCE THESE INNOVATIONS TO OTHER AGRICULTURISTS WHO ARE USED TO THE TRADITIONAL WAY OF FARMING.



ON CAM DIONISIO: ALAM MO NAMAN ANG MENTALIDAD NG ATING MGA FARMERS, ANG GUSTO NILA MAKIKITA MUNA TALAGA NILA BAGO NILA GAMITIN KAYA NGA YUN YUNG CHALLENGE NATIN. TULAD NG MECHANICAL RICE TRANSPLANTER, KOKONTI LANG YUNG GUMAGAMIT KASI NAHIHIRAPAN SILA. KAYA ANG TASK NGAYON NG PHILMECH AY KUMBINSIHIN AT IPAKITA SA KANILA NA SA PAMAMAGITAN NG MGA ITO, MAS GAGAAN ANG TRABAHO AT DADAMI ANG ANI. KAYA BILANG PINUNO NG PHILMECH NGAYON, YUN YUNG AKING ADBOKASIYA NA IPAKITA NATIN NA SA PAMAMAGITAN NG MEKANISASYON, KAYA NATING UMANGAT ANG ANI.

ON CAM DIONISIO: YOU KNOW THE MENTALITY OF OUR FARMERS, THEY WANT TO WITNESS FIRST BEFORE THEY USE IT AND THAT SERVES AS A CHALLENGE TO THEM. LIKE THE MECHANICAL RICE TRANSPLANTER, ONLY A FEW PEOPLE USE IT BECAUSE THEY FIND IT DIFFICULT. THE TASK OF PHILMECH NOW IS TO ENCOURAGE THEM THAT WITH THE HELP OF MECHANIZATION, THEIR WORK WILL BE EASIER AND THE HARVEST WILL BE MORE ABUNDANT.



VO: AT DAGDAG PA NG PHILMECH, ISA SA PINAKAMALAKING HAMON NA KINAKAHARAP NILA AY ANG POSIBILIDAD NA MAWALAN NG HANAPBUHAY ANG IILAN NATING MAGSASAKA DAHIL SA PAG-USBONG NG MAKINARYANG ITO.

VO: PHILMECH ALSO ADDED THAT ONE OF THE CHALLENGES THAT THEY’RE CURRENTLY FACING IS THE POSSIBILITY THAT SOME FARMERS MAY LOSE THEIR LIVELIHOOD BECAUSE OF THE RISE OF MECHANIZATION.



ON CAM DIONISIO: AYAN, NANDYAN NA YUNG MAKINA NA ANG PANTANIM, MAKINA NA ANG PANG-ANI. ANO NA ANG MAGIGING TRABAHO NAMIN. ACTUALLY, YUN YUNG INA-ADDRESS NGAYON NG ATING PAMAHALAAN, PARA AT THE SAME TIME MERON KANG MECHANIZATION, HINDI MADIDISPLACE YUNG MGA TAO SA KANILANG LABOR. HALOS 80% NG ATING WORKFORCE NASA AGRIKULTURA YAN EH KAYA YUNG IBA EH MEDYO NABABAHALA SILA. PERO KASI KAPAG UMANGAT ANG YUNG AGRIKULTURA, SUMASABAY ANG IYONG INDUTRIYALISASYON. ITONG MGA NADIDISPLACE NA ITO, MAGHAHANAP NAMAN YAN NG IBANG PAMARAAN PARA MABUHAY SILA SA INDUSTRIYALISASYON NA NAMAN. DADAMI DYAN ANG PABRIKA, YUN ANG MAG-AABSORB SA KANILA NG TRABAHO.

ON CAM DIONISIO: SO THERE WE HAVE THE MACHINE FOR PLANTING AS WELL AS FOR HARVESTING. WHAT WILL WE DO NOW. ACTUALLY, THAT IS THE QUESTION OUR GOVERNMENT IS CURRENTLY ADDRESSING, SO THAT AT THE SAME TIME THAT THERE’S MECHANIZATION, LABORERS WON’T BE DISPLACED FROM THEIR WORK. ALMOST 80% OF OUR WORKFORCE IS IN THE FIELD OF AGRICULTURE THAT’S WHY SOME ARE WORRIED. BECAUSE IF IN CASE THAT KIND OF AGRICULTURE CONTINUES TO RISE, INDUSTRIALIZATION WILL RISE AS WELL. THE PEOPLE WHO WILL BE DISPLACED WILL LOOK FOR ANOTHER WAY OF LIVING IN THAT INDUSTRIALIZATION. MORE FACTORIES WILL EMERGE AND THEY WILL TAKE UP MOST OF THE WORK.



VO: DAAN NA RIN ITO UPANG ANG MGA KABATAAN NG KASALUKUYANG HENERASYON NA MAS NAEENGGANYO SA MGA KARANGYAAN NG MODERNONG PAMUMUHAY AY MAGKAROON NA RIN NG INTERES SA PAGSASAKA – ISANG MASAKLAP NA KATOTOHANANG HINDI NATIN NABIBIGYANG PANSIN.

VO: THIS IS ANOTHER WAY FOR THE YOUTH OF THE PRESENT GENERATION, WHO ARE USED TO THE COMFORTS OF MODERN LIVING, TO DEVELOP AN INTEREST TOWARDS FARMING. THIS IS THE SAD REALITY THAT LACKS ATTENTION.



ON CAM DIONISIO: KASI GANITO ANG SCENARIO NYAN, ANG AGE RANGE NG ATING MGA MAGSASAKA NGAYONG AY 56-58. NGAYON ANG ATING MGA KABATAAN, AYAW NANG PUMUNTA SA FARM. MAS GUSTO NA NG KABATAAN NASA MALL. KASI ANG MENTALIDAD NG KABATAAN EH MAHIRAP MAGSAKA. PERO KUNG MERON KANG TRANSPLANTER, MERON KANG TRAKTORA, MERON KANG COMBINE, PWEDE KANG MAGTANIM NANG HINDI NAPUPUTIKAN ANG MGA PAA MO. YUN YUNG ISANG ENCOURAGEMENT SA MGA KABATAAN NA BUMALIK SA FARM, YUNG MECHANIZATION. AT MAKIKITA NILA ANG MECHANIZATION AS A BUSINESS. HINDI NA SILA MAHIHIRAPAN MAGHANAP NG TRABAHO NA KUNG ANG PAASENSUHIN NILA MISMO YUNG KANILANG SARILING NEGOSYO SA FARM.

ON CAM DIONISIO: THE SCENARIO GOES LIKE THIS, THE AGE OF OUR FARMERS CURRENTLY RANGE FROM 56-58. THE YOUTH NOWADAYS DON’T WANT TO GO TO FARMS INSTEAD, THEY PREFER TO GO TO THE MALLS BECAUSE THEY THINK THAT FARMING IS DIFFICULT. BUT IF YOU HAVE A TRANSPLANTER OR TRACTOR OR A COMBINATION OF BOTH, YOU CAN PLANT WITHOUT ANY HASSLE. MECHANIZATION IS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY THE YOUTH ARE ENCOURAGED TO WORK IN THE FARM. THEY CAN NOW SEE MECHANIZATION AS A BUSINESS. THEY WILL NOT HAVE HARD TIME LOOKING FOR A JOB BECAUSE THEY THEMESELVES AND DO BUSINESS IN THEIR OWN FARMS THROUGH MECHANIZATION.



VO: AT KASAMA ANG DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE REGION 11 AT IBA PANG TAGA-MEDIA, MASWERTE NAMAN TAYONG NABIGYAN NG PAGKAKATAONG MAKAPAGLAKBAY-ARAL SA SCIENCE CITY OF MUÑOZ SA LALAWIGAN NG NUEVA ECIJA KUNG SAAN NARITO ANG PASILIDAD PHILMECH. ANDITO TAYO UPANG KUMALAP NG IMPORMASYON AT IBAHAGI ITO SA BAWAT KA-AGRING KAPAMILYANG PILIPINO.

VO: TOGETHER WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE REGION XI AND OTHER MEDIA NETWORKS, WE ARE FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO EXPERIENCE AN EDUCATIONAL EXPOSURE AT SCIENCE CITY OF MUÑOZ IN THE PROVINCE OF NUEVA ECIJA WHERE THE PHILMECH FACILITY IS LOCATED. WE ARE HERE TO GATHER INFORMATION AND SHARE IT TO EVERY KA-AGRING KAPAMILYANG PILIPINO.



ON CAM RODULFO[2]: ITO AY NAGLALAYON NA YUNG AMING R&D RESULTS DITO SA PHILMECH AY MAIPALAGANAP NATIN SA REGIONAL LEVEL, KUNG SAAN ISA ANG LOCAL MEDIA NETWORK NINYO NA MAKAKASAMA NAMIN SA PAGPAPALAGANAP NG TECHNOLOGIES AT INFORMATION NA RELATED DITO SA POST-HARVEST AT MECHANIZATION.

ON CAM RODULFO: OUR AIM IS TO PROMOTE OUR R&D RESULTS HERE IN PHILMECH TO THE REGIONAL LEVEL, WHEREIN THE LOCAL MEDIA NETWORK WILL BE WITH US TO DISSEMINATE TECHNOLOGY INFORMATION RELATED TO POST-HARVEST AND MECHANIZATION.



ON CAM RODULFO: NAKITA NATIN KASI YUNG IMPORTANCE NG MECHANIZATION SA PAGTAAS NG ANI, AT THE SAME TIME YUNG PAGREDUCE NG PRODUCTION COST. ISA PANG IMPORTANCE NITO AY YUNG KAPAG GUMAMIT TAYO NG MAKINARYA, LALO NA SA POSTHARVEST, AY MABABABAAN DIN NATIN YUNG NAWAWALA, NASASAYANG AT NABUBULOK NA PAGKAIN LALO NA SA GRAINS KAPAG GINAMITAN NATIN ITO NG MACHINERIES.

ON CAM RODULFO: WE SAW THE IMPORTANCE OF MECHANIZATION THROUGH THE INCREASE OF HARVEST, AT THE SAME TIME THROUGH THE REDUCTION OF PRODUCTION COST. ANOTHER IMPORTANCE OF THIS IS WE CAN LESSEN THE AMOUNT OF RESIDUALS AND BIODEGRABLE WASTES ESPECIALLY FROM GRAINS WHEN USING THE MACHINERIES.



HYPE NEXT SEGMENT

VO: AT ABANGAN SA AMING PAGBABALIK…MAMAMANGHA TAYO SA IILAN SA KANILANG MGA IBINIBIDANG MAKINARYA NA MAY HATID NA MAKABAGONG PAG-ASA SA ATING SEKTOR NG PAG-AAGRIKULTURA.

VO: COMING UP NEXT…WE WILL MARVEL AT SOME OF THE MACHINERIES THAT BRING NEW HOPE TO OUR AGRICULTURAL SECTOR.






END OF BODY 1











BODY 2



PHILMECH MACHINERIES



VO: SA PAGPAPATULOY NG ATING USAPING MECHANISASYON AY SIGURADONG MAPAPAMANGHA PA TAYO SA MGA MAKINARYANG MAY HATID NA PAGBABAGO SA BUHAY NG MGA MAGSASAKANG PILIPINO. AT SA PANGUNGUNA NGA NG PHILMECH DITO SA PROBINSYA NG NUEVA ECIJA AY PATULOY ANG KANILANG PAGLINANG AT PAGBUO NG MGA MAKINARYANG MAKAKATULONG SA PAGSULONG NG MODERNISASYON NG ATING SEKTOR NG PAG-AAGRIKULTURA.

VO: TO CONTINUE WITH OUR TALK ABOUT MECHANIZATION, FOR SURE WE WILL BE AMAZED BY THE MACHINES, WHICH BRING CHANGE TO THE LIVES OF OUR FILIPINO FARMERS. WITH THE INITIATIVE OF PHILMECH, THE FARMERS OF NUEVA ECJIA CONTINUE TO CREATE AND INNOVATE MACHINES, WHICH WILL HELP IN IMPROVING THE MODERNIZATION OF OUR AGRICULTURAL SECTOR.



ON CAM RODERIC[1]: PHILMECH AS AN ATTACHED AGENCY OF DA, WE ARE MANDATED TO SPEARHEAD THE DEVELOPMENT NG POST HARVEST AND MECHANIZATION MANDATE IS TO GENERATE, EXTEND AND COMMERCIALIZE APPROPRIATE POST HARVEST AND MECHANIZATION TECHNOLOGIES. AND ANG MANDATE NATIN IS TO GENERATE, EXTEND AND COMMERCIALIZE APPROPRITE POST-HARVEST MECHANIZATION TECHNOLOGY. MAY MGA STAND ALONE TECHNOLOGIES KAMING PINOPROMOTE AND SYSTEM. ONE OF THE CONSIDERATIONS NGAYON BEING GENDER-SENSITIVE DAPAT YAN AY KAYANG I-OPERATE EVEN OUR RURAL WOMEN KASI PART OF OUR TARGET GROUP NA DAPAT MAGING BENEFICIARY IS YUNG MGA RURAL WOMEN NATIN NA DAPAT GENDER-FRIENDLY AND AT THE SAME TIME ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY.

ON CAM RODERIC: PHILMECH AS AN ATTACHED AGENCY OF DA, WE ARE MANDATED TO SPEARHEAD THE DEVELOPMENT NG POST HARVEST AND MECHANIZATION MANDATE IS TO GENERATE, EXTEND AND COMMERCIALIZE APPROPRIATE POST HARVEST AND MECHANIZATION TECHNOLOGIES. WE HAVE STAND ALONE TECHNOLOGIES AND SYSTEM WHICH WE’RE PROMOTING. WE PUT INTO CONSIDERATION THAT OUR MACHINES SHOULD BE GENDER-SENSITIVE FOR THE RURAL WOMEN CAN OPERATE THEM EASLIY. OUR TARGET IS THE RURAL WOMEN. THESE MACHINES SHOULD GENDER-FRIENDLY AND AT THE SAME TIME ENVIRONMENT-FRIENDLY.



VO: IILAN SA MGA IBINIBIDANG MAKINARYA DITO ANG PHILMECH AY ANG COMPACT CORNMILL, GRAIN MOISTURE METER, MULTI COMMODITY SOLAR DRIER AT ANG MULTI ROW ONION SEEDERS. KAYA SAMAHAN NIYO AKO MGA KA AGRI SA PAGTUKLAS NG MGA MAKABAGONG MAKINARYANG ITO.

VO: SOME OF THE MACHINES SHOWCASED BY PHILMECH ARE THE COMPACT CORNMILL, GRAIN MOISTURE METER, MULTI COMMODITY SOLAR DRIER AND THE MULTI ROW ONION SEEDERS. SO JOIN ME KA-AGRIS AS WE EXPLORE THESE MODERN MACHINES.



SOT: ANG PHILMECH COMPACT CORNMILL MINIMUM SPACE LANG ANG KELANGAN, ANG LAHAT NG COMPONENT ANDYAN NA LAHAT MAY CAPACITY NA 300-350 KG PER HOUR SA DESIGN NITO, MAY 3 DIFFERENT SIZES.

SOT: THE PHILMECH COMPACT CORNMILL ONLY REQUIRES A MINIMUM SPACE. ALL THE NECESSARY COMPONENTS ARE PRESENT AND IT HAS A CAPACITY OF 300-350 KG PER HOUR AND IT COMES IN 3 DIFFERENT SIZES.



VO: SA ISANG BAHAGI NAMAN NG COMPACT MILLER AY ANG TINATAWAG NA HAMMER MILL KUNG SAAN BINUBUHOS NA ANG MGA CRACKED CORN PARA MAGING CORN GRITS.

VO: THERE IS A PART OF THE COMPACT MILLER, CALLED THE HAMMER MILL, WHEERE THE CRACKED CORN IS PLACE TO BE MADE INTO CORN GRITS.



ON CAM RUBEN: AT DAGDAG PA DIYAN MGA KA-AGRI ITONG NAKIKITA NYO AY ANG MULTI COMMODITY SOLAR DRIER LAHAT NG PWEDENG IDRY PWEDENG IPASOK DITO KATULAD NG KAPE, PALAY KAYA UMULAN MAN MERON PARIN TAYONG MAPAGLAGYAN DUN SA ATING PWEDENG PATUYUIN NA PRODUKTO NATIN

ON CAM RUBEN: IN ADDITION, KA-AGRI, WHAT WE SEE HERE IS THE MULTI COMMODITY SOLAR DRIER. CROPS, WHICH CAN BE DRIED, SUCH AS COFFEE AND RICE, CAN BE PLACED INSIDE SO EVEN WHEN IT RAINS, WE STILL HAVE SOMETHING TO PLACE OUR PRODUCTS TO AND LET THEM DRY.



VO: AT SIYEMPRE HINDI PA TAYO NAGTATAPOS DYAN MGA KA-AGRI, DAHIL MAY PAHABOL PA TAYONG ISA PANG MAKINARYA NA TIYAK NA MAS MAKAKAPAGBABILIS NG ATING PAGTATANIM NG SIBUYAS…ANG MULTI ROW ONION SEEDERS O MROWS.

VO: OUR EPISODE DOESN’T JUST END HERE, KA-AGRI, BECAUSE WE STILL HAVE YET TO INTRODUCE ANOTHER MACHINE WHICH WILL MAKE PLANTING OF ONIONS FASTER… THE MULTI ROW ONION SEEDERS OR MROWS.



ON CAM DOMINGO[2]: DINEVELOP ITO NG PHILMECH PARA MAMECHANIZE YUNG SEEDING ESTABLISHMENT NG BULB ONION ANG MAKINANG ITO AY PARA MAADRESS NYA ANG ISSUES NG MGA NAGSISIBUYAS KUNG SAN MATAAS ANG ATING LABOR COST RELATIVE SA SYTEMA NG PAGTATANIM NG TRANSPLANTING AT MATAAS ANG COST NG SEEDS,

ON CAM DOMINGO: THIS IS DEVELOPED BY PHILMECH TO MECHANIZE THE SEEDING ESTABLISHMENT OF BULB ONION. THIS MACHINE IS DESIGNED TO ADDRESS THE ISSUES OF THOSE WHO ARE PLANTING ONIONS: OUR LABOR COST IS HIGHLY RELATIVE TO THE SYSTEM OF PLANTING AND TRANSPLANTING. THE COST OF OUR SEEDS IS ALSO HIGH.



VO: DIREKTA NA IPINUPUNLA NG MROWS ANG MGA BUTO SA LUPA. NABABAWASAN NG SAMPU HANGGANG LABING APAT NA ARAW ANG MATURITY PERIOD NITO. SA MAS MABABANG MATURITY PERIOD, NALILIMITAHAN ANG EXPOSURE NG ATING PANANIM SA INIT AT ULAN NA MAAARING MAKASIRA SA KALIDAD NITO. AT DAGDAG PA NI SIR MIRANDA…

VO: THE MROWS DIRECTLY IMPLANT THE SEEDS ON THE GROUND. THIS REDUCES THEIR MATURITY PERIOD FROM TEN TO FOURTEEN DAYS ONLY. WITH THE DECREASED MATURITY PERIOD, THE EXPOSURE OF OUR CROPS TO SUN AND RAIN ARE LIMITED, THUS PREVENTING THEM FROM RUINING THEIR QUALITY. SIR MIRANDA ALSO ADDED…



ON CAM DOMINGO: FINANCIALLY, DAGDAG ANG KITA SA MAGSISIBUYAS AROUND 12K – 60K ANG MADAGDAG NA KITA SA MAGSASAKA PER HECTARE ADVANTAGE NG DIRECT SEEDING 3 ½ MONTHS LANG MAHAHARVEST NA VS TRANSPLANTED ABOUT 4 MONTHS

ON CAM DOMINGO: FOR THE ONION PLANTERS, THIS WILL BENEFIT THEM FINANCIALLY BECAUSE AN AMOUNT OF AROUND 12K-60K PER HECTARE IS ADDED TO THEIR SALARIES. THE ADVANTAGE OF DIRECT SEEDING IS THAT IT ONLY TAKES 3 ½ MONTHS TO HARVEST COMPARED TO TRANSPLANTED WHICH TAKES ABOUT 4 MONTHS.



VO: KAYA NAMAN, SINUBUKAN KO RIN ANG PAGTATANIM NG MGA BUTO NG SIBUYAS GAMIT ANG MROW. SA HOPPER NG MAKINA INILALAGAY ANG MGA BUTO. AT UPANG MA-REGULATE AT MA-CONTROL ANG BUTO NA NAPUPUNTA SA LUPA AY MAYROON ITONG TINATAWAG NG SEED PLATE. MATAPOS MAIPUNLA ANG MGA BUTO SA LUPA AY TINATAKPAN NA ITO NG COMPACTOR NA NAGPAPATIGAS NG LUPA. SA ISANG PASADA, SAMPUNG HILERA ANG MATAMNAN NITO KUMPARA SA TRADITIONAL NA PAMAMARAAN NA DALAWANG HILERA LAMANG ANG KAYA.

VO: THAT’S WHY I ALSO TRIED PLANTING ONION SEEDS USING MROW. THE SEEDS ARE PLACED ON THE HOPPER AND THE SEED PLATE IS THE PART WHICH REGULATES AND CONTROLS THE SEEDS WHICH GO INTO THE SOIL. AFTER BURYING THE SEEDS ONTO THE GROUND, THEY ARE COVERED WITH A COMPACTOR WHICH HARDENS THE SOIL. TWO ROWS ARE PLANTED IN JUST ONE GO COMPARED TO THE TRADITIONAL WAY WHEREIN TWO ROWS ARE ONLY PLANTED.



ON CAM RUBEN: KELANGAN MO MANG CONTROL MISMO ANG MAKINA KASI KUNG HINDI PWEDE KANG MADALA AT ITONG MAKINA NA ITO MAS MAPAPABILIS ANG PAGTATANIM NG SIBUYAS AT MAS MAGANDA YUNG KALIDAD NG ATING NAAANI.

ON CAM RUBEN: YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO CONTROL THE MACHINE BY YOURSELF OR ELSE, YOU WILL BE CARRIED AWAY. THIS MACHINE ALSO MAKES PLANTING OF ONIONS FASTER AND THE HARVEST WILL BE OF HIGHER QUALITY.



HYPE NEXT SEGMENT

VO: AT ABANGAN SA AMING PAGBABALIK… HATID NAMIN ANG ISANG HANEP NA TALAKAYAN SA BILIS ASENSONG PAGBABABUYAN! AT ABANGAN RIN MAMAYA…MAKIKILALA NATIN ANG IILAN SA ATING MGA KA-AGRING NAKIKINABANG NA SA GINHAWANG HATID NG MGA MAKINARYA NG MODERNONG PAG-AAGRIKULTURA.

VO: COMING UP NEXT… WE BRING TO YOU AN IN-DEPTH DISCUSSION ABOUT FAST PROGRESSING PIGGERIES! ALSO LATER…WE WILL GET TO KNOW SOME OF THE KA-AGRIS WHO ARE NOW LIVING A GOOD LIFE, THANKS TO HE BENEFITS BROUGHT ABOUT BY MODERN MACHINERIES IN AGRICULTURE






END OF BODY 2



BODY 3



REJOINDER



VO: WELCOME BACK, MGA KA-AGRI! HETO NA NAMAN AT MAY SOSORPRESAHIN TAYO! TULOY-TULOY LANG ANG PAGPAPASAYA AT BIGAYAN NG PREMYO DITO PARIN SA DAVAO CITY KASAMA SI MOMMY ONNIE!

VO: WELCOME BACK, KA-AGRI! HERE WE ARE AGAIN TO SURPRISE SOMEONE! THE GIVEAWAYS OF HAPPINESS AND PRIZES NEVER STOPS HERE IN DAVAO CITY TOGETHER WITH MOMMY ONNIE!



HANEP BABOY



5TH AGRIVERSARY SUGOD BAHAY



HYPE NEXT SEGMENT

VO: AT DAHIL SA KANYANG NAKAKABILIB NA KWENTO, ABA’Y NAHIKAYAT AKONG SUBUKAN ANG MGA GINAGAWA NILA SA PALAISDAAN.

VO: AND BECAUSE OF SIR TOTO’S REMARKABLE STORY, I WAS ENCOURAGED TO TRY THE THINGS THAT THEY ARE DOING IN THE FISHERIES.



END OF BODY 3



BODY 4



SUCCESS STORIES FROM PHILMECH STAKEHOLDERS

VO: LAYUNIN NG PHILMECH AT DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE NA MAIPAMAHAGI SA ATING MGA MAGSASAKA SA BUONG PILIPINAS ANG MGA INOBASYON AT TEKNOLOHIYANG MAKAKAPAG-ANGAT SA KANILANG PANGKABUHAYAN. DAHIL NGA NAPAPANAHON NA RIN NGAYON ANG “AGRIPRENEURSHIP”… MALIBAN SA PAGIGING MAGSASAKA, PINASOK NA RIN NILA ANG PAGGAWA NG VALUE-ADDED PRODUCTS MULA SA KANILANG MGA NAAANI SA KANILANG MGA SAKAHAN. AT MARAMIRAMI NA RIN SA ATING MGA MAGASASAKA ANG NAKIKINABANG SA MGA MAKINARYANG ITO.

VO: THE GOAL OF PHILMECH AND DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE IS TO IMPART INNOVATION AND MODERN TECHNOLOGY TO OUR FILIPINO FARMERS WHICH WILL HELP THEM IN THEIR LIVELIHOOD. BECAUSE “AGRIPRENERUSHIP” IS TIMELY NOWADAYS… ASIDE FROM BEING A FARMER, THEY ARE ALSO INTO PRODUCTION OF VALUE-ADDED PRODUCTS WHICH COME FROM THEIR HARVESTS. AND THERE ARE MANY FARMERS WHO HAVE BENEFITED FROM THESE MACHINES.



ON CAM SAMUEL[1]: KAMI PO AY NAGPAPASALAMAT SA DEPARMTMENT OF AGRICULTURE TOGETHER WITH THE PHILMECH NA BINIGYAN KAMI NG TRAMLINE PARA GAMITIN SA PAGSASAKA MALAKI PO ANG NAITULONG NITO SA AMIN KASI YUNG PAGHA-HAULING PO KASI NG MGA PRODUKTO NAMIN DITO AY NAGAANAN AT NAKA-MINIMIZE NG ORAS. HINDI PO TULAD NOON NA DYAN KAMI DARAAN SA TRAIL, INAABOT KAMI NG KALAHATING ORAS. SAMANTALANG DITO PO ANG FIVE MINUTES LANG.

ON CAM SAMUEL: WE ARE VERY THANKFUL TO THE DEPARMENT OF AGRICULTURE TOGETHER WITH THE PHILMECH WHICH GAVE US A TRAMLINE FOR US TO USE. THIS IS REALLY A BIG HELP ESPECIALLY IN TRANSPORTING OUR PRODUCE. BEFORE, IT WOULD TAKE US 30 MINUTES WALKING ON THE TRAIL, BUT NOW WITH THE HELP OF THE TRAMLINE, WE ARE ABLE TO TRANSPORT OUR PRODUCE IN JUST 5 MINUTES.



ON CAM ARMANDO[2]: NANG DUMATING PO ANG PHILMECH RICE HULLER SA AMIN AY MALAKI PO ANG NAITULONG NIYA LALONG-LALO NA DOON SA QUALITY NG PRODUCE NG HULLER NA ITO, IBANG-IBA, MALAYO KAYA NAGIGING COMPETITIVE SA MARKET.

ON CAM ARMANDO: WHEN THE PHILMECH RICE HULLER ARRIVED HERE, IT HELPED US BIG TIME ESPECIALLY ON THE QUALITY OF THE PRODUCE FROM THE HULLER, WHICH IS OF BETTER QUALITY AND MUCH COMPETITIVE IN THE MARKET.



VO: NAKINABANG DIN ANG IILAN SA ATING MGA KA-AGRING CACAO GROWERS SA DAVAO.

VO: ALSO, SOME OF OUR KA-AGRING CACAO GROWERS IN DAVAO WERE ABLE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THESE MACHINES.



ON CAM ANDOY[3]: MALAKING TULONG TALAGA ANG NAIBIGAY NA PASILIDAD SA AMIN NG DA LALO NA ANG MGA BAGONG TECHNOLOGY NA MAY KAKAYAHAN DIN NA MAKAPAG-COMPETE SA QUALITY NG PANDAIGDIGANG NEGOSYO NG CACAO.

ON CAM ANDOY: DA WAS A BIG HELP TO US IN THE IMPROVEMENT OF OUR FACILITIES ESPECIALLY WITH THE NEW TECHNOLOGY WHICH IS CAPABLE ENOUGH IN COMPETING WITH OTHER CACAO BUSINESS AROUND THE WORLD.



ON CAM ANDOY: NOON, NASA HANGGANG 2 TONS LANG KAMI, NGAYON SA TULONG NG DA KAYA NAMING MAG-PROCESS NG HANGGANG 6 TONS WET BEANS PER DAY

ON CAM ANDOY: BEFORE WE WERE JUST ABLE TO RODUCE 2 TONS, NOW WITH THE HELP OF DA, WE CAN PROCESS UP TO 6 TONS WET BEANS PER DAY.



VO: NAKITA NATIN KUNG PAANO NILA NAPAPAINABANGAN ANG MAKINARYANG ITO.

VO: AND WE WERE ABLE TO SEE HOW THEY WERE ABLE TO USE THIS MACHINE.



ON CAM ANDOY: ITO ANG TINATAWAG NA SORTING MACHINE. ITO ANG MAGPILI DOON SA SMALL BEANS AT TSAKA YUNG MGA STANDARD BEANS NA TALAGA YUNG NA PWEDE NA NATING IPADALA FOR EXPORT.

ON CAM ANDOY: THIS IS WHAT WE CALL THE SORTING MACHINE. THIS WIL SORT OUT THE SMALL BEANS AND THE STANDARD BEANS WHICH CAN BE EXPORTED TO OTHER COUNTRIES.



VO: PERO PAANO NGA BA MAKAKAGAMIT NG MGA MAKINARYANG ITO?

VO: BUT HOW CAN OUR FARMERS AVAIL THESE SERVICES FROM THE GOVERNEMENT?



ON CAM NOEL[4]: WE REALLY ADVOCATE AND ADVISE OUR FARMERS TO FORM INTO AN ORGANIZATION. UNA MAS MAPAPALAKAS ANG BOSES NILA KUNG ANUMAN ANG HINAING NILA. ON THE PART OF THE GOVERNMENT NAMAN, IT WILL BE EASIER TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE KASI SA DA, WE DON’T GIVE ASSISTANCE TO INDIVIDUAL FARMERS BUT GROUP OF FARMERS, ESPECIALLY WITH PROVISIONS OF FARM IMPLEMENTS, FARM EQUIPMENTS. GUSTO NATIN KASI MAGING COMMON O SHARED SERVICE FACILTY NA MAS MARAMI ANG MAKIKINABANG. AND FOR THEM TO AVAIL, KELANGAN TALAGA THEY ARE A REGISTERED ASSOCIATION, THEY HAVE TO PASS RESOLUTIONS, THEN IVAVALIDATE NATIN IF MAG-QUALIFY SILA FOR THE FARM MACHINERIES AND EQIPMENT NA BINIBIGAY NATIN.

ON CAM NOEL: WE REALLY ADVOCATE AND ADVISE OUR FARMERS TO FORM INTO AN ORGANIZATION. FIRST THEY ARE GIVEN THE CHANCE TO VOICE OUT THEIR CONCERNS. AS FOR THE GOVERNMENT’S PART, IT WILL BE EASIER TO PROVIDE ASSISSTANCE BECAUSE HERE IN DA, WE DON’T GIVE ASSISSTANCE TO INDIVIDUAL FARMERS BUT GROUP OF FARMERS, ESPECIALLY WITH PROVISIONS OF FARM IMPLEMENTS, FARM EQUIPMENTS. WE WANT A COMMON OR SHARED SERVICE FACILITY WHERE MORE PEOPLE CAN BENEFIT. AND FOR THEM TO AVAIL, THEY NEED TO BECOME A REGISTERED ASSOCIATION, THEY HAVE TO PASS RESOLUTIONS, THEN WE WILL VALIDATE IF THEY ARE QUALIFIED FOR THE FARM MACHINERIES AND EQUIPMENTS THAT WE ARE PROVIDING.



VO: AT HINDI LANG HANGGANG SA PAMIMIGAY NG PASILIDAD ANG HANDOG NG ATING PAMAHALAAN. DAHIL MAYROON DING MGA LEARNING SITES GAYA NG DEMO FARMS KUNG SAAN NILA MAKIKITA ANG AKTWAL NA PAGGAMIT NG MGA MAKINARYA AT TEKNOLOHIYA AT SIYEMPRE PA, MAY HANDOG RIN NA MGA KURSO ANG AGRICULTURAL TRAINING INSTITUTE UKOL SA FARM MECHANIZATION.

VO: AND OUR GOVERNMENT DOESN’T JUST PROVIDE FACILITIES, BECAUSE THEY ALSO HAVE LEARNING SITES SUCH AS DEMO FARMS WHEREIN THEY ARE TAUGHT ON HOW TO USE THE MACHINERIES AND TECHNOLOGY. ASIDE FROM THAT, THERE IS AN AGRICULTURAL TRAINING INSITITUTE, WHICH OFFERS A COURSE ON FARM MECHANIZATION.



ON CAM DANTE[5]: WE HAVE THIS RA 10601 PROMOTING AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES MECHANIZATION IN THE COUNTRY. DAHIL DITO, ANG ATI AY NAGLAAN NG TATLONG TRAININGS FOR THIS YEAR FOR FARM MECHANIZATION. TATLONG BATCHES, FOR AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERS, AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION WORKERS AT YUNG FARMER LEVEL NA. PAANO YUNG PROPER NA PAGGAMIT NG FARM MACHINERIES, YUNG OPERATION NYA DAPAT MALAMAN YUN. LIBRE PO ITO, IN COLLABORATION WITH TESDA.

ON CAM DANTE: WE HAVE THIS RA 10601 PROMOTING AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES MECHANIZATION IN THE COUNTRY. BECAUSE OF THIS, ATI RESERVED THREE TRANINGS FOR THIS YEAR FOR FARM MECHANIZATION. THREE BATCHES FOR AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERS, AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION WORKERS AND THOSE AT THE FARMER LEVEL. THEY WILL BE TAUGHT ON HOW TO PROPERLY OPERATE THE FARM MACHINERIES. AND THIS IS ALL FREE, IN COLLABORATION WITH TESDA.



VO: AYAN MGA KA-AGRI! DAHIL SA PAGTUTULUNGAN NATING MAIANGAT ANG ANTAS NG ATING PAGSASAKA, HINDI NALALAYONG MAKAMIT NATIN ANG INAASAM NATING MAS MASAGANANG PAG-AAGRIKULTURA.

VO: SO THERE YOU HAVE IT! BECAUSE WE HELP EACH OTHER TO ENHANCE THE STATUS OF FARMING IN OUR COUNTRY, IT’S NOT IMPOSSIBLE THAT WE CAN ACHIEVE THE ABUNDANT AGRICULTURE WE’VE ALWAYS DREAMED OF.



ON CAM RODERIC: KASI NGA YUNG TRADITIONAL SYSYEM IS VERY MUCH DIFFICULT TO BREAK. BUT STILL DUE TO THE CHANGING SITUATION NATIN NGAYON SA AGRICULTURE, SLOWLY NAEEMBRACE NA ANG MECHANIZATION.

ON CAM RODERIC: THE TRADITIONAL SYSTM IS VERY MUCH DIFFICULT TO BREAK. BUT DUE TO THE CHANGING SITUATION NOW IN OUR AGRICULTURE SECTOR, WE ARE SLOWLY EMBRACING THE BLESSINGS OF MECHANIZATION.



ON CAM DIONISIO: IPAKITA NATIN SA PAMAMAGITAN NG TAMANG MECHANIZATION KAYA NATING UMANGAT ANG ANI.

ON CAM DIONISIO: WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO SHOW THAT THROUGH MECHANIZATION, WE CAN INCREASE OUR YIELD.



ON CAM RODOLFO: NAKITA NAMIN NA MAKAKATULONG ITO SA COMPETITIVENESS NATIN IN PRODUCING FOOD DAHIL NAKITA NATING YUNG BENEFITS.

ON CAM RODOLFO: WE SAW THAT THIS COULD HELP IN THE COMPETITIVENESS IN PRODUCING FOOD BECAUSE OF THE EVIDENCES AND BENEFITS THAT WE WERE ABLE TO OBSERVE.



ON CAM ANDOY: SIGURADONG UUNLAD ITO. DAHIL DITO WE CAN COMPETE OUR QUALITY TO THE WORLD.

ON CAM ANDOY: THIS WILL SURELY SUCCEED. WITH THIS, WE CAN COMPETE OUR QUALITY TO THE WORLD.



ON CAM NOEL: THE ONLY WAY TO COMPETE GLOBALLY IS TO MECHANIZE. KAILANGAN NATIN ITO. YOU SAVE ON LABOR COST, WE IMPORVE THE QUALITY. YOU CAN DO MORE WITH LESS TIME, LESS LABOR. KAYA WE REALLY ENCOURAGE THEM TO GO INTO MECHANIZATION.

ON CAM NOEL: THE ONLY WAY TO COMPETE GLOBALLY IS TO MECHANIZE. WE NEED THIS. YOU SAVE ON LABOR COST, WE IMPROVE THE QUALITY. YOU CAN DO MORE WITH LESS TIME, LESS LABOR. THAT’S WHY WE REALLY ENCOURAGE THEM TO GO INTO MECHANIZATION.



VO: TANDAAN LAMANG NATIN NA ANG MEKANISASYONG ITO AY KAAGAPAY LAMANG NATIN SA PAG-UNLAD. ANG PAGSISIPAG AT PAGTITIYAGA PA RIN NATIN ANG SUSI UPANG PAG-ASENSO SA BUHAY AY MAKAMTAN. NAWA’Y MAGSILBING INSPIRASYON ANG MGA PAGSISIKAP NG ATING MGA KA-AGRING DALUBHASA UPANG MAS MAGING BUKAS ANG ATING KAISIPAN SA MODERNONG KABANATA NG ATING PAG-AAGRIKULTURA.

VO: WE HAVE TO REMEMBER THAT THESE MECHANICS WILL JUST SERVE AS A GUIDE FOR OUR PRODUCTIVITY. HARD WORK AND EFFORT ARE STILL THE KEYS TO A PROGRESSIVE LIFE. HOPEFULLY, THE HARD WORK OF OUR AGRICULTURAL EXPERTS WILL SERVE AS AN INSPIRATION FOR US TO BE MORE OPEN-MINDED IN THE MODERN ERA OF AGRICULTURE.



CLOSING SPIELS

ON CAM RUBEN: SA TULONG NG MGA MODERNO AT MAKABAGONG MAKINARYA AY NABIBIGYAN PO NATIN NG PAG-ASA ANG MGA KA-AGRI NATING MAGSASAKA UPANG MAS MAPAUNLAD PA ANG KALIDAD NG KANILANG MGA PRODUKTONG NAAANI. MALAKING TULONG ANG PAGLALAGAY NG MGA ADDED-VALUE SA ATING MGA PRODUKTO UPANG MAS MAGING COMPETETIVE ITO SA MERKADO NA SIGURADONG MAKAPAGBIBIGAY PO SA ATIN NG TUMATAGINGTING NA KITA. WAG NA WAG PO TAYONG MATATAKOT AT MAGDADALAWANG-ISIP NA SUBUKAN ANG BIYAYANG HANDOG NG MAKABAGONG TEKNOLOHIYA SA PAG-AAGRIKULTURA. AT SIYEMPRE GUSTO PO NAMING PASALAMATAN ANG SA PHILMECH SA PANGUNGUNA PO NG KANILANG EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DR DIONISIO AVENDIA AT SIYEMPRE NAMAN PO SA MARAMING SALAMAT DIN SA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE REGION XI SA PANGUNGUNA DIN PO NG KANILANG REGIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ENGR. RICARDO ONATE.

ON CAM RUBEN: WITH THE HELP OF THE MODERN MACHINERIES, WE ARE GIVING HOPE TO OUR FARMERS THAT THEY COULD ACTUALLY IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF THEIR PRODUCE. ALSO, GIVING ADDED-VALUE TO OUR PRODUCTS CAN MAKE THEM COMPETITIVE IN THE MARKET, WHICH CAN GIVE US BIGGER INCOME. WE SHOULD NOT BE AFRAID IN EMBRACING THE BLESSINGS BY THE MODERN TECHNOLOGY IN OUR AGRICULTURE SECTOR. AND WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK PHILMECH HEADED BY THEIR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DR DIONISIO AVENDIA AT SPECIAL THANKS TO DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE REGION XI SPEARHEADED BY THEIR REGIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ENGR. RICARDO ONATE.



ON CAM RUBEN: AT SA SUSUNOD NA LINGGO MGA KA-AGRI, WAG PA RIN PO KAYONG MAWAWALA AT SABAY-SABAY PA RIN PO TAYONG…

ON CAM RUBEN: AND OF COURSE NEXT WEEK, NEVER LEAVE AND GO AND TOGETHER WE’LL ALL



ON CAM CROWD: MATUTO, MATUWA AT KUMITA SA AGRIKULTURA.

ON CAM CROWD: LEARN, HAVE FUN, AND EARN MORE IN AGRICULTURE.



ON CAM RUBEN: AGRI BA KAYO DON?

ON CAM RUBEN: DO YOU AGRI? (AGREE WORDPLAY)



ON CAM RUBEN: ABA’Y DAPAT LANG! AGRI TAYO DITO!

ON CAM RUBEN: OF COURSE! AGRI TAYO DITO!



END OF BODY 4



END OF PROGRAM
BEST AGRICULTURE RADIO PROGRAM/SEGMENT
“INFORMATION DISSEMINATION ON AVIAN FLU OUTBREAK AT SAN LUIS, PAMPANGA”
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE REGIONAL FIELD OFFICE 3
MANA: MAUNLAD NA AGRIKULTURA SA NAYON MAG-AGRI TAYO- DWRW 95.1 FM PAMPANGA
Representatives from the Department of Agriculture Engineer Roy Abaya, Regional Executive Director of DA Region 3 and Dr. Eduardo Lapus, DA Chief of the Regulatory Division along with the Information Officers discuss the Avian Flu outbreak in Pampanga.
FULL STORY
2017 BEST AGRICULTURE RADIO PROGRAM OR SEGMENT
“BEST AGRICULTURE RADIO PROGRAM OR SEGMENT”

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE REGIONAL FIELD OFFICE 3

MANA: Maunlad Na Agrikultura sa Nayon Mag-agri Tayo

DWRW 95.1 FM Pampanga



INFORMATION DESSIMINATION ON AVIAN FLU OUTBREAK AT SAN LUIS, PAMPANGA

VOICE OVER: INYONG PINAKIKINGGAN ANG MANA: MAUNLAD NA AGRIKULTURA SA NAYON, MAG-AGRI TAYO!

TYRA: PHILIPPINE STANDARD TIME IS TEN DOWN THE HOUR OF ELEVEN O’CLOCK. IKALAWANG ORAS NA PO TAYO NG MANA: MAUNLAD NA AGRIKULTURA SA NAYON, MAG-AGRI TAYO! ATIN PONG KAPILING ANG MGA KAIBIGAN MULA SA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE REGION 3 SA PANGUNGUNA PO YAN AT SA NGALAN NG REGIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DA RFO 3 ENGINEER ROY M. ABAYA, LIVE PO DITO SA HIMPILAN, ANG CHIEF NG INFORMATION SECTION, SIR JUN B. ESPIRITU, ANG WRITERS PO NG INFORMATION SECTION, NERISSE NICOLE P. BURGOS AT HAROLD R. MUNGCAL. AT LIVE PO NATIN KAKUWENTUHAN NA, NGAYON NA, NOW NA. ANG CHIEF NG REGULATORY DIVISION, DA-RFO 3, SI DOC EDUARDO LAPUZ. USAPANG BIRD FLU VIRUS PO TAYO. SAPAGKAT KAGABE, KAHAPON ANG MGA NAGLABASAN NA SA SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES, ETO NGA, “BIRD FLU OUTBREAK SA PAMPANGA, NASA 38,000 NA MANOK, PATO AT PUGO NAMATAY DAHIL SA PAGKALAT NG AVIAN INFLUENZA VIRUS SA SAN LUIS. COULD YOU PLEASE SHARE WITH US, ANO PO BA ITONG BALITANG ITO, ANO ANG BIRD FLU NA ITO?

DOC LAPUZ: MULI MAGANDANG UMAGA SA ATING MGA TAGAPAKINIG. ACTUALLY PO ANG BIRD FLU OR AVIAN INFLUENZA, MORE SCIENTIFIC NA PANGALAN NYA, AY MATAGAL SANA NATING PINAANGALAGAAN NA WAG MAKATAMA DITO, MAKAPASOK DITO MAKAPASOK SA ATING MGA POULTRY INDUSTRY DITO SA, DI LANG DITO SA ATING REHIYON KUNDI SA BUONG PILIPINAS. SUBALIT SA KASAMAANG –PALAD AY NAGKAROON NGA PO TAYO, DAHIL KATULAD NG PRONOUNCEMENT NG ATING MAHAL NA KALIHIM, KAHAPON AY TALAGA PONG MERON TAYONG AVIAN FLU VIRUS INTRUSION DITO SA ISANG LAYER FARM SA SAN LUIS, PAMPANGA.

TYRA: ISANG LAYER FARM LANG PO ITO?

DOC LAPUZ: MARAMI PO KAMING AAH, ANIM NA, ACTUALLY ANIM NA FARM YUN PONG BINISITA NATEN, NA TINATAWAG NATIN NA SUSPECT FARM, KASE PO MGA NAGREPORT ITO NA MAY UNUSUAL DEATH, PERO SO FAR PO ANG NAG POSITIVE DUN, O REACTORS NA TINATAWAG NATIN DUN SA BIRD FLU VIRUS AY YUNG ISANG FARM, NA LAYER FARM SA SAN LUIS NA HINDI KO NAMAN PO MUNA MATUTUKOY YUNG PANGALAN TO PROTECT NAMAN YUNG KANILANG FARM.

TYRA: PAANO PO NONYO NALAMAN? MERON PO BANG NAGREPORT MULA SA FARM NA ITO O MGA CONCERNED CITIZENS LANG PO?

DOC LAPUZ: MERON PONG AAH NAGBALITA O NAGREPORT SA ATING OPISINA, SO IMMEDIATELY, KASE GANITO PO NAMAN PO TALAGA YUNG DAPAT NA PROSESO DIYAN, PAG MAY NAGREPORT, IMMEDIATELY YUNG ATING REGIONAL OFFICE HANGGANG PROVINCIAL OFFICE CONCERN, AY MAGKOKO, MERON SILANG TINATAWAG NA INVESTIGATION TEAM NA PUPUNTA DUN SA AREA TO INVESTIGATE AND THEN TO COLLECT SAMPLES DUN SA MGA AFFECTED NA ANIMALS.

TYRA: HMN OK. ANO PO YUNG SINTOMAS NG PAGAKAKAROON NG BIRD FLU NG MGA HAYOP?

DOC LAPUZ: ANG BIRD FLU PO KASE IS A, SA INGLES PO IS HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS, ANG IBIG SABIHIN PO NAPAKABILIS KUMALAT. HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS DISEASE OF BIRDS, SO PAG SINABI PO NATING BIRDS, HINDI LANG CHICKEN, KASAMA ANG MGA QUIAL, KASAMA ANG MGA TURKEY, ALTHOUGH YUNG MGA BIBE AND DUCKS KARAMIHAN DIYAN MAS RESISTANT SILA SA ATING MGA MANOK. ANG KARANIWAN PONG, ANG CAUSE OF EVAGENT, O YUNG SANHI, AY YUNG TINATAWAG NATING INFLUENZA A VIRUS, NA NAKAKA-ANO RIN SA TAO. ANG INFLUENZA A DIN. PERO KARANIWAN, SA MANOK PO ANG TUMATAMANG INFLUENZA VIRUS, YUNG TINATAWAG NATIN NA INFLUENZA A.

TYRA: AHM. AHM. YUNG SA TAO NAMAN IS?

DOC LAPUZ: ANG INFLUENZA PO KASE IS A, B, C. PWEDE RIN PO KASE TAYONG MAHAWAAN SA INFLUENZA A.

TYRA; HMN. OK. PAANO PO BA YUNG MODE OF TRANSMISSION NG BIRD FLU SA MGA HAYOP?

DOC LAPUZ: ANG MODE OF TRANSMISSION SA MGA HAYOP NA ITO IS YUNG DIRECT EXPOSURE OR DIRECT CONTACT. KUNG NAHALUAN KA NG ISANG BIRD O ISANG POULTRY NA MERONG DALANG VIRUS, AY TALAGANG IKAKALAT NYA SA MGA KASAMAHAN NYA KASAMA YUN. PLUS, ANG, KARAMIHAN PO KASE, ANG MALAKI PO KASENG CONTENT NG VIRUS NA LUMALABAS AY DUN SA MANURE, DUN SA TAE. PAG HINDI PO NATIN MALINIS NG MABUTI ITO, AT NATUYO AT ANG HANGIN AY MALAKAS, PWEDENG IKALAT YAN NG HANGIN DIN PO KASE YAN. AND THEN, YUNG MGA TAONG, FOMITES ANG TINATAWAG PO NATIN, YUNG MGA FOREIGN OBJECTS HALIMBAWA SASAKYAN, YUNG MGA CLOTHINGS NATEN, PAG TAYO PO AY NAPASOK SA ISANG AREA NA INFECTED, AND THEN LALABAS TAYO, MAARI PO NATING DALA YUNG AVIAN FLU VIRUS NA YAN, NA PWEDE NATING IKALAT SA IBANG POULTRY POPULATION NATIN DITO SA ATING LUGAR.

TYRA: KASE GANITO PO ANO, KAPAG SINABI MONG BIRD FLU, USUALLY PWEDE NILANG ISIPIN FLU? PARANG SA TAO FLU, LAGNAT PO BA ITO? MAINIT DIN PO BA ANG PAKIRAMDAM NG MGA ANO, MANOK?

DOC LAPUZ: SA MGA MANOK PO NA MERONG BIRD FLU, DALAWANG KLASE PO KASE YUNG BIRD FLU SA MGA MANOK, YUNG TINATAWAG NATING LOW-PATHOGENIC AND HIGH PATHOGENIC. PAG SINABI PO NATIN NA HIGH PATHOGENIC, ALMOST WALA PONG GAANONG SYMPTOMS ANG NAKIKITA SA ISANG BIRD. MAARING MILD, NA MERONG KONTING RESPIRATORY SIGNS AND THEN, ANG PINAKA SIGN PO DITO IS BABAGSAK YUNG KANILANG EGG PRODUCTION. PERO PAGDATING NAMAN PO SA TINATAWAG NATIN NA HIGHLY PATHOGENIC, NA ITO YUNG TINATAWAG NATING CAUSE BY H5, NA NAPAKA, NAPAKASIKAT NGAYON NG H5 VIRUS, ANG KARAMIHAN PONG MAKIKITA NATIN DITO, NAPAKATAAS PO NG MORTALITY. MARAMI PONG NAMAMATAY. HALOS 100% ANG MAGIGING MORTALITY. PERO BAGO PO MAMAMATAY, MAKIKITA PO NATIN YUNG MGA MANOK NATIN NA PARANG DEPRESS, AYAW GUMALAW, LULUNGKUT-LUNGKOT, THEN AYAW KUMAIN, AND THEN MAMAMAGA YUNG MGA MUKHA NILA PARANG, AND THEN MAGKAKAROON NG BLUISH COMB, YUNG MANINGITIM OR MAGKUKULAY BLUE YUNG MGA PALONG AND THEN, SUDDENLY NAGKAKAMATAYAN PO YUNG MGA ALAGANG IBON OR ALAGANG MANOK.

TYRA: NAKU, TATAAS ANG PRESYUN NG NAG-AALAGA NIYAN, AT NAGMA-MAY-ARI.

DOC LAPUZ: OPO, LALO NA KUNG TATAMAAN TAYO NG ATING BIRD FLU.

TYRA: GAANO NA PO BA KARAMI ANG MGA HAYOP NA APEKTADO NG VIRUS NA ITO AT ANO PO ANG MAGIGING EPEKTO NITO SA PRESYO NG MGA BILIHIN LALO NA PO SA MGA MANOK?

DOC LAPUZ: ACTUALLY, YUNG MGA ACTUAL COUNT NATIN NG TINAMAAN DITO SA SAN LUIS, YUNG NAMATAY NA IS NASA AROUND 25-30,000. TAMA PO YUNG KANINA MGA 34, 000. PERO YUNG NA, YUNG POPULATION PO NG MGA FARM NA NAAPEKTUHAN AY NASA 100,000. SO, PERO PONG ISA, YUN PO AY SA MANOK. MERON PO KASENG ISANG FARM DUN NA ANG KANYANG INAALAGAAN AY PUGO, YUNG QUAIL. NUNG NAGPUNTA ANG ATING INVESTIGATION TEAM, YUNG KANYANG 15,000 AY WALA NA LAHAT. KASE PO IS APRIL PA, MERON SILANG SAKIT NA NARARANASAN, HINDI NILA NAIKUKUNSULTA SA PROPER AUTHORITIES, SANA NAGAWAN NATIN NG TAMANG PARAAN. KAYA NUNG NAGPUNTA PO DUN ANG ATING MGA INVESTIGATION TEAM, MGA LAYER DUN DINATNAN NILA NA MAY MGA ANO, PERO PO YUNG ISANG QUIAL FARM NA NAUBOS ANG KANYANG MGA ALAGA, HINDI PO NATIN, NAKAKOLEKTA NG SAMPLE DUN. PLUS, MAY MGA ILAN PONG MGA ITIK DON NA ANG POPULATION NILA AY, MGA DUCK FARMS NA NASA 9,000 PERO ANG NAMATAY PO DITO AROUND 400, PERO PO YUNG MGA ITO IS NEGATIVE NAMAN DUN SA BIRD FLU VIRUS.

SIR JUN: YUNG MGA ANO, MGA PUGO, NEGATIVE DIN SILA SA…

DOC LAPUZ: YUN NGA PO SINABI KO, HINDI TAYO NAKAKOLEKTA NG SAMPLE, UNFORTUNATELY NUNG DUMATING TAYO WALA TAYONG NAKITA DON, WALA TAYONG SAMPLE NA NAKUHA, PERO ITO NAMAN PONG AREA NA ITO IS WITHIN THE AIR, MALAPIT DIN DUN SA AREA KUNG SAAN TAYO NAGKAROON NG POSITIVE NA..

SIR JUN: DUN SA POSITIVE, PAANO NYO NALAMAN? DAHIL MARAMI NA RIN NAMATAY?

DOC LAPUZ: DAHIL PO DUN SA MORTALITY PLUS NAG COLLECT PO NG SAMPLE YUNG ATING MGA TEAM. NAG COLLECT NG DUGO, NG SWAB AT ITO PO AY TINEST, KASE PO YUNG ATING REGIONAL ANIMAL DIAGNOSTIC LABORATORY DITO SA SAN FERNANDO IS CAPABLE PO TO DIAGNOSE, USING YUNG MEDYO HIGH-TECH NA, MERON PO TAYONG PCR DIYAN, AND THEN, NUNG NAG REACT PO SILA, TO CONFIRM, PINADALA PA RIN PO NATIN SA ATING REFERENCE LAB SA MANILA. SA BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY AND THEN NAG REACT DIN PO YUNG SAMPLE NA YUN SA H5.

SIR JUN: SA NGAYON DOC, NAKITA NA NATIN YUNG MAG OUTBREAK NA YAN, NAKITA NA AT NATULOY NA. SO ANONG GINAGAWANG HAKBANG NATIN DITO, PAANO NATIN MA-CONTAIN O PAANO NATIN MA-ERADICATE O MADI-DISPOSE LAHAT YUNG MGA NAAPEKTUHAN?

DOC LAPUZ: GANITO PO KASE YUN, SA PROTOCOL PO NG BIRD FLU O AVIAN FLU ERADICATION PROGRAM, PAG NAKA IDENTIFY NA PO TAYO NG INFECTED AREA, WHICH IS NAKA IDENTIFY NAMAN PO TAYO, MAG-I-IDENTIFY TAYO NGAYON NG ISANG 1 KILOMETER QUARANTINE AREA. DUN PO SA ONE-KILOMETER QUARANTINE AREA NA YUN, LAHAT PO NG SUSCEPTIBLE ANIMALS…..

SIR JUN: RADIUS YUN, PABILOG…

DOC LAPUZ: RADUIS, PAG SINABI PO NATING SUSCEPTIBLE ANIMALS LAHAT NG POULTRY SPECIES DUN AY KAILANGAN PO NATING I-SACRIFICE.

SIR JUN: PATI YUNG MGA IBON?

DOC LAPUZ: OPO. LAHAT.

SIR JUN: E PAANO YUNG MGA WILD?

DOC LAPUZ: LAHAT PO. WILD DUCKS, MGA BIRDS, MGA.. YUNG PONG HINDI NATIN MAHULI, SYEMPRE MAHIHIRAPAN NAMAN TAYO DUN. PERO YUNG IN CAGE, NAKA CAGE NA, NA-E-EXPOSE YUNG MGA TAO, YUNG MGA PET, OPO, PAPATAYIN PO NATIN YUN BASTA WITHIN THE KILOMETER RADIUS SYA NUNG INFECTED AREA.

SIR JUN: BAKA MAY ALAGANG IBON KINA NIKKI. (LAUGH)

DOC LAPUZ: KASE PO ITO ANG NAKIKITA NILANG PINAKAMABILIS TO CONTAIN THE VIRUS. KASE WALA NA, PINATAY MO SYA SO WALA NANG TENDENCY. PINATAY MO NA YUNG HOST, WALANG TENDENCY NA ILIPAT NA NIYA SA IBA, KASE NAPATAY NA NATIN. KUNG HINDI PO KASE NATIN PAPATAYIN, HAHAYAAN PA NATIN NA NANDIYAN, NABUBUHAY AND THEN, NAGHIHINGALO NAMAN, MAARING NAG-IISPREAD SYA NG VIRUS. SO PINAKA MABILIS PO, PINAKAMAGANDA PO TALAGA GAWIN, PINAKA IMMEDIATE, NA PARAAN PARA MA CONTAIN NATIN AGAD IS TO SACRIFICE ALL THE ANIMALS SUSCEPTIBLE AND THEN IBAON PO NATIN.

SIR JUN: DUN SA WITHIN ONE KILOMETER….

DOC LAPUZ: HINDI PO PWEDENG ILABAS DIN DUN, KUNG FARM PO YAN, DUN SA FARM PREMISES PO NATIN IBABAON YUNG KANYANG MGA INFECTED O MGA SUSCEPTIBLE BIRDS, AND THEN, KATULONG PO NATIN DITO YUNG LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS TSAKA YUNG KUNG MAARI TAYONG HUMINGI NG TULONG SA DPWH KUNG MANGANGAILANGAN TAYO NG MGA BACK HOE, PERO YUN PONG LGU NG SAN LUIS AY NAKAHANDA NAMAN PO, AT MAY MGA GAMIT SILA.

SIR JUN: PAANO DOC KUNG YUNG IBA AY NAGRESIST SILA NA HINDI PATAYIN YUNG KANILANG MANOK… DAHIL MALAKI NA RIN YUNG KANILANG KAPITAL?

DOC LAPUZ: ACTUALLY PO, INAANO RIN, SINOLICIT PO NATIN YUNG TULONG DIN NG PNP, ALAM PO NAMAN NATIN NA… KAHIT PO NUNG PANAHON NG FOOT AND MOUTH AY NARANASAN NA NATIN YAN. SO KAILANGAN TALAGA NATIN NG TULONG NG PHILIPPINE NATIONAL POLICE PLUS YUNG ATING MGA TAGA BARANGAY PLUS DUN SA PRONOUNCEMENT PO NI SECRETARY KAHAPON NAMAN IS NANGAKO SIYA NA IKO-COMPENSATE NAMAN YUNG ATING MGA FARMER ALTHOUGH HINDI NAMAN KATUMBAS NUNG KANYANG HALAGA PERO ATLEAST MAY COMPENSATION PO NA MATATANGGAP ANG ATING MGA… ATSAKA NANGAKO PO SYA NG MGA SOFT LOANS NA MAARING MAPAG-UTANGAN.

SIR JUN: KASE NAKASALALAY KASE DITO YUNG KALIGTASAN, NG KALUSUGAN NG BAWAT, HINDI LAMANG NG MGA HAYOP, NG BIRD PATI YUNG SA TAO NO.

DOC LAPUZ: YUN PO ANG INIIWASAN NATIN, NA TALAGA NA,. HINDI LANG SA PAGKALAT SA POULTRY POPULATION, KUNDI PA RIN MAKATAWID SA HUMAN POPULATION YUNG VIRUS.

SIR JUN: AH MADAGDAG KO, AFTER THE ONE KILOMETER, MERON PA TAYONG ANO, ILANG KILOMETERS PA NA DAPAT PAGTUUNAN RIN?

DOC LAPUZ: SO DUN SA ONE KILOMETER AREA, PAGKA NA SACRIFICE NA NATIN LAHAT YUNG SUSCEPTIBLE ANIMALS, YUNG MGA POULTRY SPECIES NA TINATAWAG NATIN, MAGKO-CONDUCT TAYO NG SURVEILANCE PARA SA BABOY.

SIR JUN: AH SA BABOY?

DOC LAPUZ: SA BABOY PO. BAKIT PO SA BABOY? KASE ANG MGA BABOY AY TINATAWAG NATING MGA MIXING VESSEL. HALIMBAWA MAY VIRUS SA MANOK, MAY VIRUS SA TAO, PUPUNTA SA TAO, MAGHAHALO-HALO SYA, LALO SYANG TATAPANG AND THEN ANG BABOY MAARI NYANG IKALAT ULIT. SO YUNG MGA BABOY NA MAGPA-POSITIVE DIN SA INFLUENZA A DURING OUR SURVEILANCE, LAHAT YAN, SA-SACRIFICE DIN NATIN.

SIR JUN: EDI KUKUHA DIN TAYO NG MGA BLOOD SAMPLES?

DOC LAPUZ: AFTER NA MAG STAMPING OUT PO TAYO, MAGKO-COLLECT DIN PO TAYO NG MGA SAMPLES DUN SA MGA BABOY. AND THEN DUN SA OUTSIDE NA TINATANONG MO JUN, OUTSIDE THE ONE KILOMETER QUARANTINE AREA, MERON TAYONG TINATAWAG NA 7-KILOMETER CONTROL AREA. DITO NAMAN PO SA CONTROL AREA NA TO, LAHAT NG MGA, MAGKO-CONDUCT PO TAYO NG MASSIVE SURVEILLANCE, MAGKO-KOLEKTA TAYO NG MGA SAMPLES SA MGA MANOK, POULTRY PRODUCTS AT MGA POULTRY DUN SA AREA NA YUN, TO TEST KUNG MERON DIN, NA EXPOSE DIN SILA SA VIRUS.

SIR JUN: ONCE NA MERON NANG NAKALABAS, NA EXPOSE, WITHIN ONE KILOMETER, LUMABAS SA ONE KILOMETER?

DOC LAPUZ: KUNG LUMABAS IYA SA ONE KILOMETER? MAG-E-EXTEND NA NAMAN TAYO NG ANOTHER KILOMETER, AND THEN YUNG 7- KILOMETER I-EEXTEND NA NAMAN NG ANOTHER 1-KILOMETER…

SIR JUN: YUNG PERIOD NA DAPAT SIYA AY MAGAMOT, MATEST O MA…..

DOCLAPUZ: YUNG SA QUARANTINE PERIOD NA PINAG-USAPAN PO KAHAPON IS 90-DAY PERIOD. SO, WITHIN THE 90-DAY PERIOOD AT WALA NA TAYONG NAKITA NA POSITIVE PA, THE B-A-I CAN NOW APPLY FOR A BIRD FLU FREE STATUS DUN SA AREA NA YUN. KASE PO YUNG O-I-E-, YUNG INTERNATIONAL WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION FOR ANIMAL HEALTH, SIYA PO ANG MAGSASABI KUNG FREE NA TALAGA, BASED DUN SA MGA SAMPLES NA KUKUNIN NATIN AT BASED DUN SA MGA GINAWA NATING PREVENTIVE MEASURES ATSAKA PRECAUTIONS.

SIR JUN: DEPENDE RIN, HALIMBAWA 90 DAYS, TAPOS EH WITHIN 90 DAYS, MERON NA NAMAN, MAY NAKITA, ANO MAG-AADJUST ULE ANOTHER 90 DAYS?

DOC LAPUZ: DEPENDE PO YAN KUNG SAAN NAKITA ANG INFECTED SITE. MAARING HINDI SA SAN LUIS, MAARING MAPUNTA SA IBANG BAYAN. SO, DUN NAMAN TAYO MAGME-MEASURE NGAYUN NG MGA, MAG-I-INSTITIUTE NG MGA PRECAUTIONARY, PREVENTIVE MEASURES O MGA TREATMENT MEASURES NATIN, AND THEN DUN NA NAMAN MAG-AAPLY YUNG 1-KILOMETER, 7-KILOMETER.

SIR JUN: SO MAS AH, KAILANGAN NA KAILANGAN ANG PAGIGING VIGILANTE ATSAKA YUNG PAGMOMONITOR DUN SA AREA SA PAGLABAS AT PAGBASOK NG MGA ANO,

DOC LAPUZ: TAMA PO YUN, TAMA PO.

SIR JUN: MGA ITLOG? O MGA….

DOC LAPUZ: LAHAT PO NG POULTRY PRODUCTS, MANOK YAN, MANURE YAN, AT KAHIT PO YUNG MGA NAGTA TRABAHO DUN SA MGA POULTRY FARM, AY TALAGANG IKA-QUARANTINE PO NATIN. KAYA PO MAY MGA KASA-, KATULONG NATIN YUNG SA PHILIPPINE NATIONAL POLICE DUN SA ATING MGA CHECKPOINTS NA, ACTUALLY PO NAGTAYO NA TAYO NG DALAWANG CHECKPOINTS SA ENTRY EXIT NG SAN CARLOS, KASE SAN CARLOS PO YUNG FARM, PARA TALAGANG WALA NANG MAKALABAS NA POULTRY, MGA ITLOG DUN SA FARM KASE LAYER PO ITO.

SIR JUN: WALA DIN PU-PWEDENG PUMASOK?

DOC LAPUZ: WALA PO. KASE PAG PUMASOK KA DUN DI KA NA MAKAKALABAS, IKA-QUARANTINE KA NILA.

SIR JUN: WELL, POSIBLE BA DOK YUNG TALAGANG BAWAL NANG PUMASOK DUN SA WITHIN 7-KILOMETER RADIUS?

DOC LAPUZ: WITHIN THE 1-KILOMETER.

SIR JUN: WITHIN THE 1-KILOMETER, YUN ANG VERY STRICT TAYO DUN? PERO, HALIMBAWA KUNG IKAW AY GALING NG ANO NG ZAMBALES O KAYA ANO, HINDI KA NA PWEDENG DUMAAN DUN WITHIN 1-KILOMETER DAHIL ME KUNG DADAAN KA O WITHIN THE 7-KILOMETER ANO?

DOC LAPUZ: DUN SA WITHIN 7-KILOMETER, AH DADAAN LANG BA YUNG ANO SASAKYAN? PWEDE NAMAN PONG DUMAAN DUN, DI KA NAMAN TITIGIL DUN E. DADAAN KA LANG NAMAN E.

SIR JUN: PERO KUNG AKO NAMAN, E MATATAKUT NAKO, WITHIN 7-KILOMETER IWAS NAKO. (LAUGHS)

DOC LAPUZ: OPO. PERO KUNG TALAGANG MAIN HIGHWAY ANG TINAMAAN AT WALA KA NAMAN MADADAANAN, WALA NAMAN PO TAYONG MAGAGAWA DUN. DADAAN LANG NAMAN ANO, WALA NAMAN PONG PROBLEMA DUN.

TYRA: EH KANIAN PO NABANGGIT NGA PO YUNG PWEDENG PAGPASA PO NG SAKIT SA TAO, SO MALAKI PO BA YUNG PROBABILITY? PAANO MAIPAPASA ITO, SA PAMAMAGITAMN PO BA NG AIRBORN PO BA ITO, AT THE SAME TIME PWEDE PO BANG MAIPASA DAHIL SA PAGKAIN MO NG MANOK?

DOC LAPUZ: ANG PAG TRANSFER PO NG AAH NG BIRD FLU VIRUS SA TAO, ACTUALLY, MAUUNA NYAN KUNG NA EXPOSE KA DUN SA MANOK. HALIMBAWA, DUN KA NAGTA TRABAHO OR HINAHAWAKAN MO YUNG MGA MANOK. KASE YUNG MGA SECRETION NYA, DUN NAA-ANO YUNG VIRUS. AT PAGDATING NAMAN PO SA PAGKAIN, KUNG AH WELL-COOKED NAMAN PO IS AHH MAMAMATAY NAMAN PO KASE SA APOY YUNG VIRUS. KAYA LANG KUNG AAH MAGBI-BYAHE TAYO NG MGA MAY DALANG VIRUS NA MGA ANIMALS EH MAGKAKALAT PO TAYO NG SAKIT SA ATING POULTRY POPULATION.

SIR JUN: OO, AAH. DOC IBA PA NATING MGA ANO, MGA HAKBANG, HALIMBAWA SA SAFETY MEASURE DIBA, KAILANGAN DIN YUNG MGA AHH KATULONG NATIN, NABANGGIT NATIN NA 165 NA TAO NA TUTULONG DUN KAILANGAN BA MAY MGA GADGET SILA PARA HINDI MAKAPAGHAWA O MAY MGA TINATAWAG NATING MGA CLOTHINGS, MGA GEAR, GANUN?

DOC LAPUZ: ACTUALLY PO, KAME NUNG PANG PUMUTOK YAN, NUNG NALAMAN NAMIN NA POSITIVE NA TAYO IS HUMINGI NA KAMI NG BAKUNA SA D-O-H, YUNG FLU VACCINE NILA, NAKAKAPAG PROTECT NAMAN PO SA TAO YUN. PLUS, LAHAT PO NG MAGTA-TRABAHO DUN, BABAKUNAHAN PLUS BIBIGYAN SILA NG P-P-Es. YUNG TINATAWAG NA PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT. YUNG MGA COVER-ALLS, MGA GLOVES, MGA HAIRNET, MGA MASKS. KASE YUNG MASK NA GAGAMITIN NATIN DIYAN, DI LANG YUNG MASK NA ORDINARY NA NAKIKITA NATIN SA OSPITAL. YUNG TINATAWAG NATIN NA N95, NA TALAGANG MALILIIT YUNG FILTER, MAPI-FILTER NG MABUTI YUNG PINAKA MALIIT NA ORGANISM OR MGA VIRUSES, PLUS OF COURSE PALAGI TAYONG MAGDI-DISINFECT AT KAYA NGA PO YUNG SINASABI NATIN DUN SA MGA, YUNG NAGTA-TRABAHO NATIN, MGA MAGSA-SACRIFICE NG MGA MANOK DUN, ANG AMING PONG MINUNGKAHI NA KUNIN NA LANG NA GAGAWA NON AY YUNG MGA TAGA ROON TALAGA, PARA KASE PO HINDI PO SILA PALALABASIN NG SAMPUNG ARAW E. THEY HAVE TO BE CONFINE THERE AND AFTER 10 DAYS, KUNG WALA SILANG SINTOMAS DUN PALANG SILA MAKAKAPAG, ALIS DUN SA INFECTED SITE. SO, GANUN.

SIR JUN: PAANO E HALIMBAWA, KAMI SUMAMA KATULAD NI CESS, (LAUGH). NIKKI. OO.

SIR JUN: HI CESS, ANO AH YUNG PUPUNTA DOON,

NIKKI: MAGKO-COVER PO,

SIR JUN: ANO, MAGKO-COVER NG ANO, HINDI NA SYA PWEDENG LUMABAS GANUN?

DOC LAPUZ: OFF LIMITS PO TAYO LAHAT DUN SA 1-KILOMETER.

NIKKI: HMN. SO WALANG MEDIA.

DOC LAPUZ: SO KUNG MERON MAN SIGURONG MEDIA OUTPOST DOON OR COMMANDS, NANDUN LANG SILA SA COMMAND CENTER. NAGTAYO PO KASE TAYO NG COMMAND CENTER NGAYON, OUTSIDE THE 1-KILOMETER RADIUS INFECTED AREA.

SIR JUN: HINDI SILA PWEDENG MAG-COVER OR ANO….

DOC LAPUZ: NOT UNLESS GUSTO NILANG MAG STAY DUN NG 10 DAYS PARA MA QUARANTINE SILA DUN.

NIKKI: PERO OK NAMAN PO YUNG MOBILE PO, PWEDE NAMANG TUMAWAG?

DOC LAPUZ: OPO OK NAMAN.

NIKKI: OPO.

SIR JUN: BASTA’T MERONG AREA SILA NA ANDUN LAMANG SILA?

DOC LAPUZ: PANG KARAMIHAN PO, NANDUN SA COMMAND CENTER TAYO DUN SA, NA IN-IDENTIFY NG LOCAL GOVERNMENT NG SAN LUIS NA OUTSIDE DUN SA 1-KILOMETER RADIUS.

SIR JUN: SAAN ANG COMMAND CENTER NA ANO NATIN.?

DOC LAPUZ: DUN PO SYA SA PAPASOK NG SAN LUIS MISMO, DUN SA MAY PAGLAMPAS MO LANG NG CONTROL, YUNG KANYANG, ATING ARENDO DIKE.

NIKKI: AH OK.

DOC LAPUZ: THEN RIGHT SIDE SYA, MAKIKITA MO SYA, YUNG MUN.. L-G-U SAN LUIS COMMAND CENTER NA….

NIKKI: U-UUHHM. UU—UHHM.

TYRA: KUNG SAKALI PONG MAIPASA PO ITO SA TAO, ANO PO BA YUNG SINTOMAS? ANO YUNG MARARAMDAMAN NG TAO, GAANO KA-FATAL PO ITO, IS IT FATAL?

DOC LAPUZ: AAH, YUN PO KASENG ISANG KLASE NG VIRUS NA H5N1 NA TINATAWAG NATEN, TSAKA H5N6, ITO PO YUNG MGA NAGKO-CAUSE NG MORTALITY TALAGA SA TAO. ANG SINTOMAS PO NITO SA TAO AY PARANG SIPON DIN NA ORDINARY. NA TINATRANGKASO KA RIN.

TYRA: UUHHM. UHHM.

NIKKI: FLU TALAGA.

DOC LAPUZ: NA FLU TALAGA. DAHIL AVIAN FLU SYA NA.. INFLUENZA A DIN KASE YUN NO. PERO PAG TALAGANG MAHINA ANG RESISTENSYA NG ISANG TAO AT DINAPUAN NITO, EEHH TALAGANG NAGKO-CAUSE NG DEATH SA TAO.

NIKKI: UHHM.

TYRA: OK. AAH. PUTULIN MUNA NATIN ANG ATING DISCUSSION SAPAGKAT PARA PO MAIPASOK PO NATIN NGAYON ANG UPDATE MULA PO MISMO SA REGIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR NG DA-RFO 3 NA SI ENGR. ROY M. ABAYA NA PRESENT PO DOON SA SITE. MAGANDANG UMAGA PO ENGINEER ROY.

DIRECTOR ABAYA: AAY GOODMORNING PO. GOODMORNING.

TYRA: GOODMORNING PO. SI TYRA PO ITO, KASAMA PO NATIN DITO SA PROGRAMA SINA SIR JUN, SI NICOLE ATSAKA PO SI HAROLD AND SI DOC LAPUZ PO.

DIRECTOR ABAYA: AY. OPO.

TYRA: OPO. KAMUSTA PO YUNG SITWASYUN PO DIYAN. NASA MAY SAN LUIS PO BA KAYO SA KASALUKUYAN?

DIRECTOR ABAYA: AY WALA. UMALIS AKO NGAYON. UMUWI LANG AKO SAGLIT NGAYON, NAGPA CHECK-UP. NANDITO NGA AKO SA OSPITAL NAGYON E.

TYRA: AAH OK. O SIGE PO.

DIRECTOR ABAYA: PERO, KAGABE HANGGANG 10:00 O’CLOCK KAMI DYAN, NAKIPAG MEET AKO WITH THE LOCAL OFFICIALS,

TYRA: AAH OK.

..

DIRECTOR ABAYA: AT YUNG SANGGUNIANG OFFICIALS NILA. SO READY NA HOPEFULLY. ACTUALLY NGAYON, INE-EXPECT NAMIN NANDUN NA YUNG TEAM NAMEN. TO INITIATE YUNG FIRST ACTIVITY NATIN, NA I-CONTROL O DEPOPULATE YUNG 1-KILOMETER RADIUS.

SIR JUN: AH SIR, ALAM NATIN NA AAH.. SI JUN PO. MAGANDANG UMAGA PO SIR.

DIRECTOR ABAYA: HI JUN, O GOODMORNING.

SIR JUN: AAH YUNG, ALAM NAMEN NAKITA NAMIN YUNG ANO, YUNG PALANO NATIN. FROM ANO PALANG E, SA CONFERENCE ROOM AFTER THE, KAY SECRETARY NAGTULUY-TULOY WALANG TIGIL ITONG TEAM NA ITO E. AAH NAGTULOY PA PALA KAYO DIYAN SA ANO, SA SAN LUIS? OO. PARA KWAN YAN EE.

DIRECTOR ABAYA: YEAH. KAGABE, PUMUNTA KAMI NG SAN LUIS, SO NATAPOS KAMI NG MEETING AY PAST 10:00 O’CLOCK NA YUN SO…..

SIR JUN: SIR, AAH, ANU NAPO YUNG …

DIRECTOR ABAYA: NAG-FOLLOW-UP CHECK UP KASE AKO NGAYUN KAYA UMUWI LANG AKO SAGLIT.

SIR JUN: AAH OO SIR. AH WALANG TIGIL TALAGA SI SIR, TALAGANG KAILANGANG-KAILANGAN ITO. SIR, ANO NA ANG MGA HAKBANG NA GINAGAWA, MGA ASSITANCE NG ATING PAMAHALAAN, LALONG-LALO NA PARTICULARLY IN DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE?

DIRECTOR ABAYA: YUNG UNANG PRIORITY NATIN NGAYON JUN, YUNG KATULAD NG PINLANO NATIN KAGABE, KASAMA NA RIN YUNG OFFICIALS NG SAN LUIS, KAGABE ACTUALLY IS NAGPULONG NA KAAGAD YUNG SANGGUNIANG BAYAN NG SAN LUIS, MAG I—ISSUE RIN SILA NG ANO NA, IDE-DECLARE NA NILA NA STATE OF CALAMITY YUNG SAN LUIS, SO DAHIL DUN PWEDE NA TAYONG MAKAPAG-EXECUTE NG ATING MGA EMERGENCY WORKS. PRIORITY DITO IS YUNG SABI KO NGA DEPOLULATION DAHIL ANG COMMITMENT NI SECRETARY DAPAT WITHIN 3 DAYS MA-CLEAR NA NATIN YUNG 1-KILOMETER RADIUS. SO, NANDUN NA YUNG TEAM NATIN, IN FACT, KANIAN SI SANDRE NAG-UPDATE SA AKIN, PAPUNTA NA SILA DUN AND, NGAYONG UMAGA SIGURO IS INO-ORIENT NILA YUNG MGA TAO NA MAKAKASAMA NATIN DITO SA DEPOPULATION ACTIVITIES NATIN. NANDUN NA RIN ACTUALLY, YUNG MGA ANO PALA KAGABE, PINAKITA NILA MAYOR, NAKA READY NA YUNG BACK HOE NILA, SO PARA MAG EXCAVATE NUNG PAGLILIBINGAN NUNG MGA IKA-CULL NATIN NA MGA MANOK OR MGA BIRDS.

SIR JUN: SIR, AH SIR NABANGGIT DIN TUNGKOL SA PULONG YUNG MGA LEGAL IMPEDIMENT ONCE NA PINATAY NATIN YUNG MGA MANOK, MAY MGA GINAWA NA PO BA TAYONG HAKBANG PARA MA-INFORM YUNG MGA FARM OWNER?

DIRECTOR ABAYA: ACTUALLY NGAYONG UMAGA, IPUPULONG NILA YUNG MGA FARM OWNERS, MISMO NA SILA MAYOR ANG MANGUNGUNA DUN, KASAMA NA RIN NANDUN NA YUNG TEAM NATING PINANGUNGUNAHAN NI DR. BALUYUT. SO, I-EXPLAIN NILA, IPAPALIWANAG NATING MABUTI BAKIT BA NATIN GINAGAWA ITO. DI PARA KAGUSTUHAN, SAKRIPISYO TALAGA ITO. NA KAGUSTUHAN NATIN PARA MAPUKSA KAAGAD KASE PAGKA HINDI NATIN GAWIN NG MGA GANITONG ACTIVITY, HAHABA, POSIBLE PANG LALAKI ANG MAGIGING EFFECT NITONG OUTBREAK NA ITO. SO, DAHIL KAGUSTUHAN NATIN, LAHAT DAPAT TAYO IS TULUNG-TULONG. NA TALAGANG SUNDIN YUNG MGA PROSESO.

SIR JUN: OO. AAH. SA BINABALAK NATIN, LALO NA SA INFORMATION CAMPAIGN ANO, NA HINDI DAPAT MAG-ANO SIR YUNG MGA TAO, MABAHALA DAHIL NAMAN HINDI NAMAN TO ACTUALLY NAKAKAHAWA KAAGAD SA TAO SA PRONOUNCEMENT NG D-O-H ANO. AH, AH KAILANGAN RIN, MULA SA INYO PO, ANO PONG MGA DAPAT NATING MALAMAN SA NA PAMAMARAAN O KAYA YUNG NA MAIIWASAN TALAGA?

DIRECTOR ABAYA: YUNG MGA NANDUN SA QUARANTINE AREA AY TALAGANG SINASABIHAN SILA NA TALAGANG HINDI SILA LALABAS DOON. IKA-QUARANTINE SILA. IN FACT, YUNG MGA TAUHAN NATIN NA TUTULONG DUN IS PIPILIIN NATIN YUNG MGA TAGA ROON NA, DAHIIL OTHERWISE PAGKA PUMASOK KA DUN, ANY PERSON OR ANY MATERIAL NA IPAPASOK NATIN DUN IKI-CLEARED HO. SABI NUNG MGA TAGA B-A-I KAHAPON IS IKI-CLEAR KA MUNA. IKA-QUARANTINE MUNA NG ATLEAST 10 DAYS. PARA SIGURADO NILA NA PAGLABAS MO DUN SA 1-KILOMETER RADIUS IS WALA KANG DALANG VIRUS OR HINDI KA INFECTED. LAHAT ITO AY DAPAT COOPERATION ANG HINIHILING NATIN SA BAWAT ISA NA TALAGANG SUNDIN, WAG TAYONG MAGIGING PASAWAY DITO NA SASABIHIN NATIN HINDI NAMAN, WALA NAMAN AKONG NARARAMDAMAN, WALA NAMANG NANGYAYARI SA LUGAR NATIN. KASE HAHABA AT HAHABA YUNG PROSESO EH, SO LATER ON, MAGRE-REQUEST TAYO NA SANA IS CLEAR NA TAYO. REREVIEWHIN LAHAT YAN NG MGA MAG-AASSESS, KUNG SINUSUNOD BA NATIN YUNG MGA PROTOCOLS NA BINABANGGIT.

SIR JUN: ALAM PO NATIN SIR NA YUNG ATING MGA FARM OWNER O MGA NAG-AALAGA, MGA POULTRY RAISER, O YUNG MGA NAG-AALAGA NG LAYER AY MALAKI NA RIN PO ANG INVESTMENT NA NA-ANO DIYAN, MERON BANG MGA ANO YUNG ATING PAMAHALAAN NA PARA NAMAN HINDI NAMAN SILA GAANONG MASAKTAN?

DIRECTOR ABAYA: AHM. TULAD NG BINANGGIT NI SECRETARY KAHAPON, AH MAGLALAAN-, IKO-COMPENSATE PO NATIN LAHAT YUNG MGA PAPATAYIN NA MANOK, OR AHH, TAMA YUNG MGA MANOK NA NANDOON SA MGA FARMS. KUNG ILAN YUNG BILANG NOON, I THINK YUNG BINANGGIT NYA IS, 80 FLAT RATE NYA IS 80 PESOS PER HEAD, ALTHOUGH SIGURO AARALIN PA NATIN YAN NG MABUTI, MAGRE-RECOMMEND TAYO NG MAS REALISTIC NA PRESYO PARA KAY SECRETARY. DAHIL NUNG BINAGGIT NYA 80, SO AS OF NOW, 80 YUNG BINABANGGIT NATIN SA MGA KASAMAHAN NATIN DOON SA BABA.

SIR JUN: 80 PESOS PER HEAD?

DIRECTOR ABAYA: SO KAGABE DUN SA SA PAGPUPULONG, PAGPUPULONG NAMIN SA MUNICIPAL OFFICIALS MAY BINABANGGIT SILA NA CONSIDERATION, SO SABI NAMAN NI USEC ARIEL, KASAMA KO SYA KAHAPON, TRY NATIN I-REVIEW AND THEN, WE CAN MAKE RECOMMENDATION FOR THE SECRETARY.

SIR JUN: OPO.

DIRECTOR ABAYA: SO, LAHAT PO YUN, LAHAT PO YUN NA PAPATAYIN, DUN SA 1-KILOMETER RADIUS, AS OF NOW IS 80 PESOS PER HEAD ANG IKO-COMPENSATE. MALIBAN DON, MERON SYANG BINANGGIT, MERON, WHICH IS A REGULAR ACTIVITY AAH PROGRAM NATIN. YUNG CREDIT FACILITY, SO OPEN TAYONG MAGPAUTANG DOON SA AFFECTED FARMERS, AFFECTED FARMS, YUNG MINIMUN INTEREST RATE NA SINASABI NATIN NA PRODUCTION, ATLEAST LOAN EASY ACCESS, MERON DIN YUNG OTHER FORM OF CREDIT ASSISTANCE NATEN, YUNG SURE, YUNG SURVIVAL RECOVERY ASSISTANCE, OPEN PO LAHAT YAN. AND HOPEFULLY, MAKAKATULONG ITO SA KANILA TO RECOVER SA PANGYAYARING ITO.

SIR JUN: AH ONCE NA, NA ANO HO NATIN, NA CLEAR NA LAHAT AT NASIGURADO NA, WALA NA YUNG BIRD FLU, ANO PO? YUN ANG GAGAWIN ANO PO?

DIRECTOR ABAYA: AY. OO. OPO. TALAGANG SA NGAYON AY HINDI TAYO, HINDI ADVISABLENA MAG ANO TAYO NGAYON, INITIATE NG ANY ACTIVITY DUN SA INFECTED AAH OR QUARANTINED AREA.

SIR JUN: SIR, YUNG NABANGGIT NYONG MGA 80 PESOS PER HEAD, THIS INCLUDES YUNG MGA ANO, MGA SASABUNGIN, PATI YUNG MGA INAALAGAANG MGA BIRDS? OO. YUNG KWAN…

DIRECTOR ABAYA: OPO. LAHAT YAN, LAHAT YAN JUN. IN FACT, YUN ANG NAGING WORRY NGA NUNG MGA TINURUAN KAGABE NUNG MGA LOCAL OFFICIALS, AY YUNG 80 PESOS AY SOBRA NAMAN DOON BABA DOON SA MGA TIPONG PANG SABONG. SO, AGAIN KUNG MAYROON MAN MGA GANUNG MAAPEKTUHAN, EH KASO ANG BINANGGIT KASE NI SECRETARY IS 80, I-FLATRATE NA NATEN. SO, ETO NAMAN KUNG MAY MGA MALILIIT KA RIN, KATULAD NG MGA PUGO O, MAGKANO BA ANG PUGO NGAYON, YUNG 80 PESOS IS A BIG AMOUNT. SO, AGAIN PERO OPEN TAYO FOR ANO, FOR SUGGESTION AND WE CAN RECOMMEND TO THE SECRETARY KUNG SAAN MAS APPROPRIATE ON COMPENSATION.

SIR JUN: OO. ANG ISANG NAKIKITA KO DYAN, AY YUNG MGA NAG-AALAGA NG MGA MANOK NA TINALI. LALO NA YUNG MGA WINNING LINE NILA NO. BAKA MADESI- TSAKA ITAGO, O KAYA ANO, SABI MANANALO TO E. ANG LAKI NG BILI KO NITO E NO.

DIRECTOR ABAYA: KAYA NGA ANG PAKIUSAP NAMIN DUN SA KAGABE AY TALAGANG ETO E, IKUMBINSE TALAGA NATIN NA DAPAT AY SAKRIPISYO DAHIL DI NATIN GINUSTO ITO, NGAYON KUNG DI TAYO SUSUNOD DUN, DI NATIN MASASABI NA LATER ON BAKA INAALAGAAN MO NGA YAN, BAKA MAMAYA SA KANILA PA TUMAMA. SO HOPEFULLY, DI NAMAN SANA MANGYARI DON, KAYA FULL COOPERATION TALAGA. IPAPAINTINDI TALAGA DAPAT NATIN DUN SA MGA AFFECTED FARMERS BAKIT NATIN GINAGAWA ITO, MGA AFFECTED FARMS, E PARA NA RIN YUNG BUONG INDUSTRIYA, KASE PAG PINABAYAAN NATIN, LAALWAK, E HINDI NAMAN NATIN INAANO YUN, INEEXPECT NA DAPAT GANUN. DAPAT KUNG ANO MAN YUNG PINASOK AY I-CONTAIN NALANG NATIN.

SIR JUN: SIR WOULD YOU SAY THIS TIME, THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND LAHAT NG ATING AGENCY NA HUMAHAWAK DITO SA BIRD FLU OUTBREAK, AY MASASABI NATING WE ARE IN CONTROL OF THE SITUATION?

DIRECTOR ABAYA: OO NAMAN. SA TINGIN NATIN DUN SA DAPAT AH PAKITA YUNG FULL SUPPORT, PATI YUNG P-N-P NANDUN SILA KAGABE, AND AH NAPAKA CRITICAL YUNG ROLE NILA, NA TALAGANG TUTULONG SA ATIN. PATI PAGMANDO NG MGA CHECKPOINTS, E NANDUN ANG MGA B-A-I GROUP NATIN, SO FULL SUPPORT ITO. IN FACT, YUNG D-O-H, I THINK, MAG AANO NA RIN SILA, INACTIVATE NA NILA YUNG MGA CENTERS NILA TO MONITOR KUNG MAY MGA AFFECTED OR MGA SINTOMAS SA MGA HUMAN, AAH SA HUMAN. SO, FULL SUPPORT, PATI ANG OFFICE NG GOVERNOR, ANG MGA MUNICIPAL MAYORS, NAGDECLARE NA NGA SILA, SI GOVERNOR NAGDECLARE NA NANG STATE OF CALAMITY FOR THE WHOLE PROVINCE, SO DOON PALANG KAHIT HINDI NAMAN BUONG PAMPANGA ANG TIMAAN E NAKITA NA NATIN NA LAHAT NG CONCERNED AGENCIES NA FULL SUPPORT PO TAYO.

SIR JUN: AHH OO. AAH SIR, ISANG KATANUNGAN NA LANG HO, PARA I-APPEAL NYO, NASA INYO NA HO ANG PAGKAKATAON, NA PARA ANO, KAUSAPIN ANG ATING MGA, MGA MAGSASAKA O MGA TAO DITO SA LALAWIGAN NG PAMPANGA, PARA SA SIDE NG DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

DIRECTOR ABAYA: OO.OO. SO, SA LAHAT PO NG ATING MAGSASAKA, LALUNG-LALO NA YUNG NANGANGALAGA NG MGA MANOK, ESPECIALLY SA SAN LUIS, ETO PO AY HINDI NATIN KAGUSTUHAN, ITONG NANGYAYARI NGAYON, SO SABI NGA PO NI SECRETARY, ITO AY KALAMIDAD. CONSIDER NATING KALAMIDAD NA TALAGA NAMANG TUMATAMA SA HINDI NATIN INE-EXPECT NA ORAS, DAHIL NANDITO NA TO AY HINIHILING LANG NAMIN NA AY DAPAT HINDI TAYO MAGPANIC. THE GOVERNMENT IS AAH, NAKAREADY TO PROVIDE ALL THE NEEDED ASSISTANCE, ANG HINIHIILING LANG DIN NATIN PO SA MGA AFFECTED, ESPECIALLY SA MGA AFFECTED FARMS, AFFECTED FARMERS, NA TALAGANG, SANA MAGTULUNGAN TAYO PARA LALO NATING MAPABILIS NA MAPUKSA, MA-CONTAIN ITONG OUTBREAK NA ITONG NANGYARI SA ATIN. SO, AGAIN, NAKIKIUSAP PO ANG DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE SA OFFICE NG REGIONAL OFFICE NA LAHAT SANA ATYO AY MAKIPAGTULUNGAN AND HOPEFULLY WE CAN CONTAIN ALL THIS OUTBREAK.

SIR JUN: OO SIR. AT ETO NGA PO, AT KAMI AY AFTER NA MAINTERVIEW NAMIN KAYO, PUPUNTAHAN NAMIN DOON SA LUGAR, MAARING SI DIRECTOR ANDREW NO, KINO-CONTACT NAMIN PARA MALAMAN YUNG SITUATIONER DOON PO SIR.

DIRECTOR ABAYA: ACTUALLY NANDOON NA DAW SILA, SI SANDER ANG NAG ANO SA AKIN, AND THEN, AS DISCUSSED KAGABE, IO-ORIENT YATA YUNG MGA TAO NA TUTULONG SA ATIN, AND WE EXPECT NA TODAY, TALAGANG MAGI-START NA YUNG PAGPATAY NUNG MGA KAMANUKAN DUN SA AREA.

SIR JUN: OK.

TYRA: ALRIGHT, NAKU, MARAMI PONG SALAMAT.

SIR JUN: THANK YOU SIR, MARAMING SALAMAT.

TYRA: SA INYO PONG UPDATE.

DIRECTOR ABAYA: AY SALAMAT DIN PO. SALAMAT DIN PO SA LAHAT.

TYRA: OK. AYAN PO AT ATIN PONG NAPAKINGGAN VIA PHONEPATCH ANG PINAKA LATEST PO MULA SA REGIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR NG DA-RFO 3, ENGINEER ROY M. ABAYA. WE NEED TO PAUSE FOR COMMERCIAL BREAK AT MAGBABALIK PO ANG ATING PROGRAMA, DITO LAMANG PO YAN SA MANA: MAUNLAD NA AGRIKULTURA SA NAYON, MAG-AGRI TAYO!

VOICE OVER: ITO ANG MANA: MAUNLAD NA AGRIKULTURA SA NAYON, MAG-AGRI TAYO!

COMMERCIAL BREAK

VOICE OVER: INYONG PINAKIKINGGAN ANG MANA: MAUNLAD NA AGRIKULTURA SA NAYON, MAG-AGRI TAYO!

TYRA: PHILIPPINE STANDARD TIME IS 11:44. KAYO PA RIN PO AY NAKATUTOK DITO SA ATING PROGRAMANG MANA: MAUNLAD NA AGRIKULTURA SA NAYON, MAG-AGRI TAYO! KASAMA PO NATIN ANG MGA KAIBIGAN MULA SA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE REGION 3 SA PANGUNGUNA PO YAN AT SA NGALAN PO NG REGIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DA-RFO 3 ENGINEER ROY M. ABAYA, NA NAKAPANAYAM PO NATIN VIA PHONE PATCH KANI-KANINA LAMANG, LIVE PO DITO SA AMING HIMPILAN, ANG CHIEF NG INFORMATION SECTION DA-RFO 3, SIR JUN B. ESPIRITU, WRITERS NG INFORMATION SECTION, NERISSE NICOLE P. BURGOS, HAROLD R. MUNGCAL AT ANG CHIEF NG REGULATORY DIVISION- DA RFO 3, DOC EDUARDO LAPUZ. AT AH PATULOY PA RIN ANG DISCUSSION NATIN DUN SA BIRD FLU VIRUS.

SIR JUN: OO, MAHALAGANG PAG-USAPAN NATIN ITO LALO NA NAAPEKTUHAN ANG BAYAN NG SAN LUIS, AT ANG BUONG PROBINSYA NG PAMPANGA AT DINECLARE NA ANO, NA STATE OF CALAMITY NI NANAY PINEDA, NI GOVERNOR ITONG ATING PAMPANGA DAHIL NGA DITO SA BIRD FLU, OUTBE-, OUTBREAK. AH DOC, MALAMAN NGA NATIN, ONCE NA NAIPON YUNG ANO HO, ALAM MO MAY MGA KALABAN TAYO SA ANIMAL WELFARE SOCIETY EH, PAANO BA PINAPATAY TONG MANOK NA ITO, BAKA TAYO, KAKATAYIN NA LANG PAGDE-DEPOPULATE NATEN?

DOC LAPUZ: ACTUALLY MERON TAYONG, DUN SA ATING MANUAL OF OPERATION, MAY APPROVED NA PAANO NATIN AAH TATAGALUGIN, KIKITLIN ANG BUHAY. (LAUGHS)

SIR JUN: (LAUGH) KAKATAYIN.

DOC LAPUZ: KASE MAHIRAP NANG SABIHIN NA PATAYIN E, PARANG MINA-MURDER MO YUNG ANO, SINASACRIFICE, KUNG PAANO NATIN ISA-SACRIFICE YUNG MGA ATING MGA ALAGANG MANOK. KUNG KONTI LANG PO YAN, MERON KASE KAMING, KAMI PONG MGA TAGA ANIMAL, LIVESTOCK SECTOR O POULTRY SECTOR, MERON KAMI NANG PARANG MADALING PAGPATAY SA MGA SISIW, YUNG HIHILAHIN MO YUNG KANYANG ULO PARA MA-DISLOCATE.

SIR JUN/NIKKI: OOHH.

DOC LAPUZ: PERO ANG GAGAMITIN PO NATING PROSESO SA PAGPATAY O PAGSACRIFICE SA MGA MANOK NA ITO DITO SA MINA, SA SAN LUIS AT THROUGH GASING.

SIR JUN: AAH GASING.

DOC LAPUZ: CARBON DIOXIDE

NIKKI: SAAN HO SILA NON? NASA ISANG CAGE PO OR…

DOC LAPUZ: MAY CARBON… WALA PO KASE TAYONG GANUNG FACILITY, ANG GAGAWIN PO NG ATING MGA TEAM AY ISISILID NILA SA SAKO, BY 20 SIGURO. TATALIAN, THEN YUNG ATING GASING MACHINE NGAYON, IPAPASOK YUNG EXHAUST DUN PARA MAMATAY. MADALI LANG NAMAN KASE MAMATAY YAN E.

NIKKI: HOW LONG PO GAGAWIN YUN, FOR EXAMPLE, 10,000 NA CHICKEN PO ILANG ORAS PO?

DOC LAPUZ: ANG TARGET PO, ANG BINIGAY PO KASE SA AMIN NI USEC. ARIEL KAGABE IN KUNG MATAPOS NATIN NG MAXIMUM OF 3 DAYS, KUNG MATAPOS NATIN NG AS EARLY AS 24 HOURS OR 48 HOURS, THE BETTER SABI NYA.

NIKKI: KALAHATING MILYONG CHICKEN OR MGA ILAN PO YUN?

DOC LAPUZ: AAH NASA 200 TO, AT THE MOST SIGURO 300 THOUSAN YUN.

NIKKI: OPO.

DOC LAPUZ: WITHIN THE 1-KILOMETER RADIUS.

SIR JUN: GAANO ANG LALIM NOON, PAG BABAON?

DOC LAPUZ: ACTUALLY, DI DAPAT BABABA YAN SA 6-FEET,

SIR JUN: OO.OO.

DOC LAPUZ: PARANG SA TAO RIN, PERO MERON, SINASANGGUNI PA RIN SA D-A NATIN, AYUN NAG MEETING SILA, KUNG KAILANGAN BANG MAY LINING YAN, KASE BAKA MAPUNTA DAW SA WATER TABLE NATIN YUNG MGA ANO, SECRE, SO MERONG, IAADVICE YAN NG ATING D-E-N-R TUNGKOL SA PAG AAH, PAANO MA PROTECT YUNG ATING WATER SOURCE, PLUS, KADA LAYER NYAN, DINIDIS INFECT NATIN BAGO NATIN TATABUNAN YUNG MGA MANOK.

TYRA: OK. PARA MALAMAN PO NATIN YUNG PINAKA LATEST PO NGAYON, ATIN PONG MAKAKAPANAYAM ANG TINAWAGAN PO KANINA NI DOC ANO, SI DOC SANDRE, OKAY, MAGANDANG UMAGA PO DOC SANDRE.

DOC SANDRE: HELLO PO MAGANDANG UMAGA PO. YES MAM.

TYRA: HELLO PO, SI TYRA PO ITO KASAMA PO ANG MGA KAIBIGAN NATIN SA D-A SINA SIR JUN, SI DOC LAPUZ, SI NIIKI ATSAKA SI HAROLD. KAMUSTA PO NASAAN PO SILA KASALUKUYAN?

DOC SANDRE: LOCATION PO NAMIN, ANDITO PO KAMI SA MUNISIPYO NG SAN LUIS, DAHIL HINDI PO KAMI KASYA KANINA SA COMMAND CENTER, LUMIPAT PO KAMI NGAYON MAM DITO SA AVR. NAG-A-UNDERGO PO NG MEETING WITH AAH ASEC. SI DOC SEC, GARZON, SI DR. VILLACORTA, USEC . CAYANAN NANDITO RIN PO, THEN B-A-I DIRECTOR RFO, TSAKA PDOMMO PO. ATSAKA SI VICE MAYOR LEONARDO SALAS AND MAYOR NANDITO NA RIN PO, PATI SI MDRRMC FOCAL PERSON PO.

TYRA: KAMUSTA NAMAN PO ANG SITWASYON DIYAN, ANO NA PO BA YUNG MGA NAGANAP MAGMULA PO KANINANG PAGDATING NILA?

DOC SANDRE: PINRESENT PO NAMIN MAM KUNG ANO YUNG BIRD FLU, ANO YUNG MGA MANGYAYARE, (DOK GOODMORNING PO.) DUMATING NA RIN PO ANG TEAM NG B-A-I NA NAGDADALA NG CARBON DIOXIDE MACHINE, SI DOCTOR ALDRIN, SO YUN PO YUNG MEETING IS QUESTION AND ANSWER NA PO NGAYON MAM, KUNG ANO BA YUNG TINATAMAAN NG 1-KILOMETER, LAHAT PO BA? HINDI DAW BA PWEDENG I –QUARANTINE MUNA. SO NAGKAROON NA PO NG DECLARATION, SINABI PO KANINA, TALAGANG STAMPED OUT PO, LAHAT PO NG BIRDS NA APEKTADO SA 1-KILOMETER RADIUS, TALAGANG PAPATAYIN PO.

TYRA: KAMUSTA NAMAN PO YUNG MGA REAKSYON PO NUNG MGA MAY-ARI PO NG MGA FARM? NA –INFORM NA PO BA?

DOC SANDRE: YES PO. NAGPAPASALAMAT NAMAN KAMI NA SI USEC. CAYANAN, NA MAY MGA TAO NA MALAWAK ANG KAISIPAN. AT HINDI NAMAN SARADO YUNG IBANG MGA FARM OWNER, DAHIL KAPAG SINABI PO KASE NA PAPATAYIN LAHAT, MEDYO MASAKIT PO SA KANILA.

TYRA: CORRECT. CORRECT.

DOC SANDRE: AT BIBIGAY NAMAN PO NA, MAY SINABI NAMAN PO SI ASEC GARSON NA, YUN NGA PO BABAYARAN PO NG 80 PESOS PER HEAD, AND MAY INILATAG DIN PO NA ITIK PINAS PROGRAM NA, YUN YUNG PWEDENG IBIGAY SA KANILA AS KABUHAYAN PO, KAPALIT PO NUNG LAYER. PERO BAGO PO MAKA CLAIM PO NUNG PROGRAM, DAPAT STAMPED OUT PO MUNA YUNG MGA LAGA NILANG LAYER NA MANOK PO.

SIR JUN: DOC SANDRE, MEANING TO SAY NA, YUNG MGA NAAPEKTUHAN NA POULTRY OWNER O YUNG MGA FARM OWNER NA YAN, BIBIGYAN SILA NG ALTERNATIVE NA ANO, PANGKABUHAYAN? HABANG…

DOC SANDRE: YES PO. KUNG TATANGGAPIN NILA YUN SIR KASE MATITIGIL PO YUNG, YUNG TALAGANG MEANS PO NG KABUHAYAN NILA. TALAGANG, TALAGANG STOP PO TALAGA. THEN AAH, 30-60-90 DAYS BAGO PO SILA ULIT MAKAPAGLAGAY NG BAGONG STOCK, KAPAG NAG DECLARE NA PO NA A-I FREE PO.

TYRA: ILAN PO YUNG ESTIMATE PO NA MGA BIRDS ANG IISTAMPED OUT PO NGAYONG ARAW NA ITO, AT SA MGA SUSUNOD PANG ARAW??

DOC SANDRE: NGAYONG ARAW, ANG TARGET PO IS 200,000, MGA APPROXIMATE KASAMA NA PO SIGURO YUNG BACKYARD HANGGANG 300,000.

TYRA: 300,000. ANG TARGET PO HANGGANG KAILAN MATAPOS?

DOC SANDRE: 3 DAYS PO PERO MAXIMUM 24-HOURS KUNG KAYA PONG TAPUSIN.

TYRA: ALRIGHT.

SIR JUN: AAH DOC SANDRE, NAKA AAH, IM PLACE NA BA YUNG MGA ANO, MGA BACK HOE NATEN? YUNG MGA MAGHUHUKAY, O NAG UMPISA NA SILA?

DOC SANDRE: NASA AREA NA PO, AND AAH DI KO LANG PO MAKITA SI MAYOR KANINA KUNG NAG START NA PO. PERO PINAG-USAPAN PO KAGABE, DAPAT NAKAPAGHUKAY NA PO.

SIR JUN: SA BAWAT FARM HO BA, DOCTOR SANDRE, DUN MAGHUHUKAY, SA BAWAT FARM OWNER O MERONG ISANG LUGAR TALAGA NA PAGDADALHAN LAHAT LANG?

DOC SANDRE: YUNG MGA COMMERCIAL FARM PO, SA KANILA NALANG PO YUNG HUKAY, DUN NALANG PO MISMO SA KANILANG BACKYARD.

SIR JUN: AH SA MGA BACKYARD LANG.

DOC SANDRE: NGAYON , AH. OO. SA BACKYARD NILA NA LUGAR, PERO YUNG MGA, YUNG MGA, YUNG MGA BACKYARD NA TATAMAAN PO, MAGDE-DESIGNATE PO NG ISANG MORTALITY PICK NA KUNG SAAN DUN NALANG PO IIPUNIN, DUN IBABAON.

SIR JUN: AAH YUNG MGA, YUNG MGA TAO NA MERON NANG, NAKAHANDA NA, MAY MGA PROTECTIVE GEAR E, IN PLACE NA RIN SILA? AAH. ANY MOMENT PWEDE NA SILANG KUMILOS?

DOC SANDRE: YEAH. ANY MOMENT PO, AH NAG-UNDERGO LANG PO NG MEETING, TATAPUSIN LANG PO ITONG INTERACTION WITH THE FARM OWNERS, THEN KAMI NA PO YUNG MAG, MAG-OORIENT KUNG PAANO GAMITIN ANG P-P-E, THEN DIRETSO NA PO SA AREA.

SIR JUN: ANG SITUATION HO DIYAN, PAANO NATIN MAKOKONTROL, HALIMBAWA YUNG MGA TAO NA GUSTONG PUMASOK AT MARAMI NAMAN, ALAM MO NAMAN MGA PILIPINO, MARAMING USUSERO ATSAKA USISERA, NA GANUN, NA GUSTONG MAKITA, GANUN RIN, PAANO NATIN KOKONTROL YUN? THE P-N-P, KASAMA NATEN, NANDYAN?

DOC SANDRE: YES, KASAMAHAN NAMAN PO NATIN ANG MGA P-N-P, THOUGH TALAGANG MAY MAKUKULIT NA GUSTONG MAG-COVER, PERO NANDITO RIN NAMAN PO YUNG STAFF NG MGA P-P-O ATSAKA NG MUNISIPYO TO CONTROL.

SIR JUN: AAH OK.

TYRA: ALRIGHT, ANY LAST WORDS PO PARA PO SA ATING MGA TAGAPAKINIG, PARA MAWALA PO YUNG FEAR KASE KASALUKUYAN ANG DAMI PONG NATAKOT DAHIL DITO SA AH BIRD FLU VIRUS PO NA ITO.

DOC SANDRE: YES PO. LAST WORD, IKA E SABI NGA PO NI USEC., COOPERATION AND UNDERSTANDING PO TALAGA KUNG ANO YUNG SAKIT. AND KUNG ANO YUNG MGA MAGIGING CONSEQUENCE, DAPAT OPEN PO TAYO DUN. THEN, KASE KAPAG NAPABAYAAN PO YUN, TALAGANG AAH MALAKING KAWALAN SA KANILA. THEN, SISIHIN ANG GOBYERNO, SASABIHIN WALANG TINUTULONG NA BINIBIGAY. KAYA DAPAT MAKIPAG COOPERATE PARA ATLEAST, MATULUNGAN PO NATIN SILA, KUNG ANO MAN YUNG MGA DAPAT GAWIN PA.

TYRA: ALRIGHT, NAKU, MARAMI PONG SALAMAT SA PAGPAPAUNLAK NINYO NG AMING PANAYAM, AT SA UPDATE PO DOC SANDRE.

DOC SANDRE: OK PO. WALA PONG ANUMAN, SALAMAT PO.

TYRA: ALRIGHT, PHILIPPINE STANDARD TIME IS 11:53, COMMERCIAL BREAK MUNA PO TAYO, MAGBABALIK ANG ATING PROGRAMA.

VOICE OVER: ITO ANG MANA: MAUNLAD NA AGRIKULTURA SA NAYO, MAG-AGRI TAYO!

COMMERCILA BREAK-

-end-
BEST AGRICULTURE NEWS STORY NATIONAL
“PHL RETRACES JOURNEY TOWARD FOOD SECURITY;
JASPER EMMANUEL Y. ARCALAS
BUSINESS MIRROR
This four part series talks about the various programs set forth by the Department of Agriculture to achieve food security in the country.
FULL STORY
2017 BEST AGRICULTURE NEWS STORY NATIONAL
“PHL RETRACES JOURNEY TOWARD FOOD SECURITY”

JASPER EMMANUEL Y. ARCALAS

Business Mirror


Part One

IT’S 2017 and yet the agriculture sector is still looking for a way to achieve self-sufficiency in rice.

And since the turn of the new administration, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol has set his eyes in achieving the country’s rice self-sufficiency, something that the previous administration has failed to achieve.

Based on the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the country’s self-sufficiency in rice even dropped below the 90-percent mark in 2015, at 88.93 percent compared to the 91.95 percent self-sufficiency ratio (SSR) recorded in 2014. The decline was attributed to reduced share of domestic production to the country’s supply, while importation was increasing, the PSA noted.

In the PSA’s annual publication, titled Agricultural Indicators System (AIS): Food Sufficiency and Security, the agency reported that the country hit its highest SSR during 2013, which was estimated at 96.82 percent.

SSR is the extent at which a country’s local production of commodities is adequate enough to meet the demand of the whole population, the PSA added.

An SSR lower than 100 percent means that the local production couldn’t meet the country’s requirement for a specific commodity, while an SSR greater than 100 percent indicates that domestic production is more than enough to support the domestic requirements, the PSA said.

The Philippine Development Plan of the previous administration had targeted a 100-percent rice self-sufficiency level by 2016. The Aquino administration had also wanted to wipe out rice imports by 2013.

Despite billions of pesos poured into the government’s rice self-sufficiency goal program, local rice output was unable to meet the demand of Filipinos, according to PSA data.

Plans

PIÑOL has confidently said 2017 might be the year when the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) rice self-sufficiency program will start to be implemented.

“We are now in the process of finalizing the Masaganang Ani [bountiful harvest] 6000 [MA 6000] Program, which will initially target 1 million hectares of irrigated areas,” Piñol told reporters in a news briefing in mid-December.

“These areas will be supported with hybrid-rice seeds, sufficient fertilizer and efficient irrigation system and mechanization,” he added.

Under the MA 6000, the DA will identify 10 initial areas with a thousand hectares of irrigated land where the agency will plant hybrid-rice seeds.

“The purpose of the [MA 6000] is to address the issues that would contribute to productivity,” he said. “It’s the existing irrigated area that we are going to utilize, we are not expanding.”

The DA said it is eyeing to improve the national average rice production to 6 metric tons (MT) per hectare from the current 3.9 MT per hectare. Citing farmers’ testimonies, Piñol said they are able to produce more than the national average yield by planting hybridrice seeds in areas with proper irrigation system and efficient farm machines.

Past

PIÑOL initially maintained the country can achieve rice self-sufficiency by 2018.

This target was pinned on the back of the Rice Productivity Enhancement Program (RIPE), which would focus on distributing seeds and fertilizers to rice farmers greatly affected by El Niño.

However, when the finance team of the Department of Budget and Management deleted the P18-billion allocation for Piñol’s rice self-sufficiency program, he moved the target to 2019. Piñol further pushed back the target to 2020.

“The reason my earlier proposal, the RIPE, was disapproved by the economic cluster [was] because it didn’t have a recovery program,” Piñol said. “And right now, we are looking at a recovery program.”

He explained the recovery program means, “once you distribute the seeds how would you recover the cost of which in order to buy and distribute again new ones?”

“That’s the only thing [that] the economic cluster wants,” Piñol said.

And it seems that until today, there have been no final comprehensive guidelines yet for Piñol’s MA 6000 program.

In a newspaper report, a DA official said the implementation of the MA 6000 program might be pushed back to next year, as the agency’s budget for its rice program is not sufficient for the total cost of the MA 6000 program.

Mindanao

PIÑOL said he is keen on expanding rice output in former conflict areas in Mindanao, which is not usually hit by typhoons, in the government’s bid to achieve its rice self-sufficiency goal.

Piñol said the vulnerability of traditional farming areas in Luzon to strong typhoons has made it imperative for the government to look for alternative sites for rice planting. The agriculture chief made the statement after Typhoon Nina (international name Nock-ten) damaged crops in Regions 4A, 4B and 5 valued at P5.32 billion.

Piñol said he wants to expand food production in provinces used to be torn by civil war, such as Sulu, Zamboanga
and Basilan.

“[There are] unexplored areas that were war-torn before but are okay now,” Piñol said. “I asked the people in Sulu and they said that, given government support, they will be to plant rice enough to supply their province and maybe even Zamboanga.”

He cited Basilan and Tawi-tawi as other potential areas.

“These are areas that are not threatened by climatic disturbance, which we want to explore.”

Part Two

AGRICULTURE Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol has set his eyes on achieving the country’s rice self-sufficiency, something that some pundits said the previous administration failed to achieve.

Piñol has said he is looking at the viability of planting rice in former war-torn areas in Mindanao and outside the country’s second-largest island group.

“According to the color-coded [national agricultural] map, Samar is a potential rice-production area because of the availability of water and availability of land,” Piñol said. “Also, it is not frequently hit by typhoons.”

While the Department of Agriculture (DA) is keen on using hybrid-rice seeds to expand output, the DA chief said it is not yet widely used by farmers in Soccsksargen (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos) and Davao.

“Soccsksargen and Davao, and actually Zamboanga, as well, have great potential because these areas have slow acceptance of hybrid-seeds technology,” Piñol said. “If we are able to convince these farmers to embrace hybrid-rice seeds, then we are expecting a spike in our rice-production program.”

Security

PIÑOL’S fellow Cabinet member, Socioconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia, pointed out that the Aquino administration’s rice self-sufficiency program was a “wrong policy”.

“The rice self-sufficiency [program], that’s a wrong policy,” Pernia told the BusinessMirror before assuming office as director general of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda). “We will push for food security, not self-sufficiency, because we should be doing things that we have comparative advantage in.”

“Obviously, we don’t have comparative advantage in rice,” he added. “It’s cheaper to import rice from [countries like] Thailand.

In 2011 the DA embarked on its program, titled Food Staples Self-Sufficiency Program (FSSP) Roadmap 2011 to 2016, which aimed to eliminate rice imports by 2013 and be rice-sufficient by the end of 2016. The FSSP aimed to deliver interventions by boosting farm productivity through increased farm-mechanization level, development of better irrigation systems, reduction in postharvest losses and utilization of high-quality seeds among others.

Pernia’s sentiment was supported by Pablito M. Villegas, president and CEO of agricultural think-tank Meganomics Specialists Inc. Villegas said the DA’s focus should be in food security and not specific crop sufficiency.

“Rice self-sufficiency? Better look at it in terms of food self-sufficiency so we can use traditional indigenous foods of the Filipino people,” Villegas, who is also an economist, told the BusinessMirror. “Also, we must start slow shifting to more nutritious high- value crops and rice, such as brown rice.”

And if the government really wants the agriculture sector to fully prosper then it should stop its “commodity approach of budgeting,” according to Villegas.

“They should have to reform or have to stop the commodity approach of budgeting because it has not achieved any success,” Villegas explained. “They are budgeting in terms of what is needed, such as rice production and/or corn production.”

According to him, “that kind of budgeting has not worked and we have poured in a lot of money that has only been an avenue for more corruption.”

Villegas, who served as a senior agricultural economist for the Food and Agricultural Organization, suggests that it’s high time for the DA to implement the identification and creation of Strategic Agriculture and Fisheries Development Zones (SAFDZ), which is mandated under the provisions of the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act.

“Which means you have to look at the relative and comparative advantages of commodies in certain areas given the soil, the water and the location,” Villegas said. “You don’t stop from just producing crops but you go on developing the competitive advantages of that crop by processing or value adding.”

Victimization

GIVEN the SAFDZ mandate, Villegas said the DA should now design a development mechanism that will promote agro-based industrial clustering.

In an agro-indsutrial processing-based approach, the country is clustered
according to production areas and strategic points, such as airports and ports. Moreso, in such approach, raw produce is geared toward a specific processed product, making it more competitive compared to just being a fresh produce, explained Villegas, who also served as senior adviser to former Agriculture Secretary Salvador H. Escudero III.

“So that you can now develop not only the comparative advantages, but also the competitive advantages of the locations,” said Villegas, who was tapped by Indonesia to serve as the Agro-based Industry Specialist for the said country’s project, titled “Study on Restructuring the Agro-based Industries.”

“Therefore, the commodity or crop now has become neutral, they are not dictated now by specific programs program,” he added. “But they are dictated by the actual needs in those areas and factor endowments based on the resources available in those areas.”

Villegas points out that the government should also address the “adverse” effects of an “interlinked credit and product market”, wherein the traders and processors have the power to control the value-chain market. He adds that the government should create programs that would give farmers the opportunity to trade directly to the market.

“The farmers are still in a credit-price squeeze and they are not responding
favorably,” Villegas said. “They are still being victimized by the oligopolists in
the marketplace.” He explained the victimization is “the adverse effect of an interlinked credit and product market, wherein, even while the farmers are still planting, their harvest are already sold at cheaper price compare to their expensive production input costs.”

Part Three

THE Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines food security as “the access for all people at all times to enough food for a healthy, active life.” Meanwhile, food self-sufficiency is defined by the International Food Policy Research Institute as being able to meet consumption needs (particularly for staple-food crops) from own production rather than by
buying or importing.

Piñol has hinted of programs that may focus on the development of other crops as a substitute to rice and means to achieve food security in the country.

“Also, we are looking at other commodities that would fill in whatever shortage or gap in the staple-food production,” Piñol said. “I have directed the DA [Department of Agriculture]-Bureau of Agricultural Research Director Nick P. Eliazar to intensify studies on adlai, which is a native indigenous plant found in mountainous areas. [People there] have been consuming and eating it as their staple food.”

The Philippines, as of 2015, is self-sufficient in the following agricultural crops: sugarcane, calamansi, papaya, pomelo, tomato, cabbage, eggplant, cassava and sweet potato, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

‘Warming up’

ROGER V. Navarro, president of Philippine Maize Federation Inc. (PhilMaize), said it’s about time that the agriculture chief sits down with his policy and planning team, and craft a comprehensive program for the development and direction of the agriculture sector under the current administration.

“Piñol has to buckle up, seat down and make formal plans and directives for his operatives to be implemented down the ground,” Navarro told the BusinessMirror. “He should make things formal in papers and documentation, and not in social media.”

Navarro added the government has procedures and processes run through the bureaucracy and not by social-media posts of grandstanding pronouncement, which Piñol would later retract.

Navarro suggests that the overall framework of the DA’s program should be for food security, under which are specific targets per agricultural commodity, such as self-sufficiency. “If you ask me, I would suggest to bring back the banner program—they may call it whatever—because this will give more focus on government interventions,” Navarro said, referring to the previous DA’s administration banner program priorities on rice, corn and high-value crops.

“It [the program] should be based on per-capita consumption, growth rate of population, land production area and imports plus government intervention. Target should be quantified each year for measurement, proper evaluation and adjustment,” Navarro added.

Tough time

IN a press briefing last mid-December, Piñol admitted that he and his current DA team experienced a tough time in their first six months in office due to the programs
created by the previous administration.

“The journey has been tough and hard for us, simply because some of our activities actually were constrained by the fact that the budget for the half of the year has been allocated already designed by the previous administration,” Piñol said.

“We’re not saying that these programs are not relevant to the vision of the current leadership. This situation actually somehow tied our hands in really implementing drastic reforms in the agriculture department,” he added.

Recently, the DA said it would bank on the inputs of the International Rice Research Institute (Irri) and the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) in crafting a national rice-farming program.

“The government has plenty of work to do pertaining to rice. We would be very dependent on Irri and PhilRice in terms of formulating our program,” Agriculture Assistant Secretary for Operations Federico E. Laciste Jr. said in a statement.

Laciste, who is also the deputy director of the Philippines’s National Rice Program, said collaboration in developing a national strategy for rice farming is important to uplift the lives of Filipino farmers.

Irri said Laciste was briefed on the various collaborative research projects implemented jointly by the research institute and the PhilRice, in support of the National Rice Program.

The projects include the “Rice Crop Manager,” a Web-based decision support tool for precision farming, and the Philippine Rice Information System, a satellite-based rice forecasting and monitoring system. Also included is the “Green Super Rice,” (GSR) which is composed of climate-smart varieties developed under the Next Generation (NextGen) project.

PDP 2017-2022

IN the draft of its six-year Philippine Development Plan (PDP), the Duterte administration has set a more modest production target for the agriculture and fisheries sector.

The national government is keen on growing farm production by 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent annually starting this year until 2022, when the President steps down from office. The previous administration had initially targeted to increase annual agriculture and fisheries output by 3 percent to 5 percent.

“The sector has yet to overcome recurring challenges related to productivity, competitiveness, climate and disaster risks, and resource degradation and depletion,” the draft chapter read.

“Greater trade liberalization, e.g., implementation of the Asean Economic Community [AEC] and free-trade agreements, and lifting of quantitative restrictions [QR] on rice in 2017 provides opportunities to the sector, as well as poses risks to small farmers and fishermen who remain uncompetitive,” it added.

The PDP draft pointed out that crops subsector, which accounts for nearly half of agriculture and fisheries output, pulled down the overall growth of the sector in the past years.

“The subsector’s poor performance was due to: a] impacts of typhoons and El Niño that greatly affected rice and corn productions, especially in Mindanao; b] coconut scale infestation in Calabarzon; and c] limited adoption of high-yielding varieties of selected commodities,” the draft read.

Conclusion

FOR the Philippines to achieve food security, three major hurdles must be overcome: low farm productivity, low farm- mechanization level and inadequate postharvest facilities.

According to the state’s draft economic blueprint, the former is caused by limited access to credit and insurance.

The draft Philippine Development Plan (PDP) noted that population growth and aging farmers pose a threat to the local agriculture sector. As the country’s population rises, more resources are needed to produce food. And as farmers and fishermen age, there could be a drop in production.

“The average age of palay, corn, bangus [milkfish] and tilapia farm operators range from 48 to 55. While the sector’s work force gets older, the younger population finds more attractive employment opportunities outside the agriculture sector. If this situation persists, food production may be threatened.”

For the crops subsector, the government is targeting to hike production by 2 percent to 3 percent annually from 2017 to 2022. To hit these goals, the draft PDP indicated that paddy-rice output should grow by 3.95 percent this year, 4.2 percent in 2018, 4.32 percent in 2019, 4.36 percent in 2020, 4.41 percent in 2021 and 4.45 percent in 2022.

Livestock and poultry production should also grow by 3 percent to 4 percent annually, and forestry by 2 percent to 3 percent.

Encouragement

THE government is also targeting to increase commercial fishing production by 2.5 percent and municipal fishing by 1 percent annually between 2017 and 2022. Aquaculture production-growth target was set by the government at 5 percent every year.

“In the next medium term, the desired outcomes for the agriculture, forestry and fishing [AFF] sector are a) to expand economic opportunities of those who are currently engaged in producing AFF products and b) increase access to economic opportunities by small farmers and fishermen, who are typically subsistence producers and have limited market participation,” the PDP draft read.

“Providing equal opportunities for both the existing producers to expand and the marginalized farmers to participate in the market would reduce inequalities in economic opportunities,” it added.

Some of the interventions in the agriculture sector that the national government are looking at in the next six years are construction of new and maintenance of existing irrigation systems.

The government also plans to encourage farmers, especially the traditional ones, to embrace and utilize technologies in farm of developed farm machineries in pre-harvest, harvest and post-harvest periods. On top of which, the government will also promote the adoption and use of high-yielding and stress-tolerant varieties of crops and quality fry of
fish species.

HVC

THE development of the high-value crops sector, which is considerably until now an undeveloped department of agriculture, is also a part of the government’s six-year plan.

Among the commodities that could be developed based on vulnerability and suitability analysis, as well as value-chain analysis of DA, include mango for Ilocos, coffee for the Cordillera Administrave Region (CAR); dairy cattle for the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) area; calamansi for Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan); abaca for Bicol and Eastern Visayas; rubber for Zamboanga peninsula, banana for Northern Mindanao; and cacao for the Davao region.

The government is also keen on improving and expanding the market of Philippine farm products, not just locally but also internationally. It intends to strengthen linkages between small farmers and local markets, as well as open new international markets for the country’s farm goods.

Legislation

IN terms of legislative agenda, the government is planning to amend the mandate of the National Food Authority (NFA), decoupling its regulatory and proprietary functions. The draft PDP said the NFA will continue to exist, but its role will focus on beefing up the rice buffer for food security.

The government also pointed out the need to amend the Agricultural Tariffication Act (ATA) of 1996, which imposes quantitative restriction (QR) on rice, after the eventuality of the expiration of the waiver of the Philippines’s right to QR on rice. The latter has a June 30 deadline in the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The Philippines opened up its agricultural market to other WTO member‐countries establishing a tariffication system through the ATA or Republic Act 8178, a policy paper submitted to the Food and Fertilizer Technology Center read.

“As a safety net, an effective rice program will be developed by the DA to assist rice farmers who will be dislodged from rice cultivation because of their inability to compete with possible cheaper rice to come in,” the PDP chapter draft read.

“Moreover, the tariff proceeds from rice imports shall be ploughed back to the rice sector,” it added.

Assessment

THE disposal of the P75-billion coconut- levy fund and other related remaining assets that are yet to be assessed is also a priority of the government, according to the draft PDP.

For his part, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the agriculture sector should expect more from his agency, promising the DA would roll out “better” programs starting 2018.

“When the budgeting for 2018 comes along sometime early next year, I will already be able to lay down the programs and projects, which would be reflective of the directions for agriculture and fisheries as set by President Duterte,” Piñol said in a Facebook post on Christmas Day.

According to the social-media user DA chief, these programs and projects would be more focused on food production, poverty alleviation and greater contribution by the agriculture and fisheries sectors to national growth.

“Those who expressed amazement at the speed with which I do things and implement programs are even in for bigger surprises,” Piñol said. “I’m just warming up. You have to understand that the budget and programs I am implementing now were crafted by the previous officials of the DA.”
BEST AGRICULTURE NEWS STORY REGIONAL
“PITCH FOR PHL RICE PRODUCTION IN SUFFICIENCY AND COMPETITIVENESS”
ANSELMO S. ROQUE
PUNTO CENTRAL LUZON
This two-part series discusses the issues that the Philippines faces in competing with other rice producing countries including high costs and what possible solutions and efforts can be done to increase our competitiveness.
FULL STORY
2017 BEST AGRICULTURE NEWS STORY REGIONAL
“PITCH FOR PHL RICE PRODUCTION IN SUFFICIENCY AND COMPETITIVENESS”
ANSELMO S. ROQUE
Punto Central Luzon


Vietnam rice or Philippine rice?

Sadly, the inevitable choice of the buying public would be Vietnam rice.

Not because of quality, as both are enticing enough for the buyers. It is their selling price – which indicates that even if the Vietnam rice is imposed a 35 percent tariff, it is a lot cheaper than the Philippine-produced rice.

“The Vietnam (milled) rice can be sold at P27.32 a kilogram, the Philippine rice at a minimum of P34.37,” a joint study by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), averred. “The disparity in price is mainly due to production cost, which is very high for the Philippines - almost double than that in Vietnam,” it further said.

Production cost per kilogram of palay (unhusked rice) in the country is at P12.41 while in Vietnam P6.53, the study said.

Next to the Vietnam rice, the commodity from Thailand would also appear preferable for the buyers as its production cost is only at P8.85 per kilogram. Its milled form can be sold at the Manila market at P30.89 per kilogram.

“The big chunk of the cost of producing rice in the country comes from hired labor,” says the PhilRice-IRRI study. ‘It is 37 percent of the total cost of production,” it added.

Translated into peso value, that cost for hired labor to produce one kilogram of palay in the country is P3.76. In Vietnam, only P0.46 while in Thailand, P0.66.

Next to hired labor, the other big expenses of the Filipino farmers to produce one kilogram of palay are for fertilizer (P1.94) and animal-machine-fuel-oil (P1.73). In contrast, the Vietnamese farmers spend P1.36 for fertilizer and P0.81 for the latter.

Other items contributory to the overall production expenses included pesticide, operator-family-exchange labor, irrigation, land rent, interest on capital, and incidentals.

The study, titled “Benchmarking the Philippine Rice Economy Relative to Major Rice-producing Countries in Asia”, was carried out “to provide a proper perspective on how the country can further improve its competitiveness in rice production and marketing in view of the full integration of the country to the Asean Economic Community”.

It was commissioned by the Department of Agriculture-National Rice Program and funded by the Bureau of Agricultural Research. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries participated in the study.

The documentation exhibited informed reasons why, comparatively, producing rice in the country is more expensive. Thus, they are key messages for policymakers and planners for crafting remedial measures to make the locally produced rice competitive in the liberalized market.

Localities of the study were the respective “rice bowls” of China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, India and the Philippines. In-country study was in Nueva Ecija while that in Vietnam, in Can Tho; in Thailand, SupanBuri; in Indonesia, West Java; in India, Tamil Nadu; and in China at Zhejang.

These countries were listed as belonging to the top ten producing countries in the world.

A randomly sampled 100 farmers in each of these provinces were interviewed extensively in crop year 2013-2014. Details of the study were contained in separate monographs and were later compiled into a recently published book.



Farming in Nueva Ecija



Farmer Mang Piring, in Villa Cuizon, Science City of Munoz, tills a one-hectare land. He produces palay with his sweat, sacrifice - and loans coupled with a gamble with nature and a number of other factors coming into play.

He is 58, which is the average age of the rice farmers in the province. Comparatively, he is older with his counterparts in Vietnam whose average age is 49 and also in Thailand, 55; Indonesia, 51; India, 50; and China, 54.

In the dry-season cropping in 2013, when irrigation water was released to his farm, he contracted his neighbor, who has a hand tractor, to plow, harrow and level a portion of his farm for the seedbeds. He waited for the seeds to grow and develop into 20-day old seedlings which he ensured having enough fertilizer and water and protection against rats, birds, insects and diseases.

Meanwhile, he prepared the planting area. It was plowed twice by his contracted hand tractor operator at a one-week interval, harrowed and leveled. He did dukit - or the plowing of planting areas near the small dikes that could not be reached by the hand tractor - with the use of a carabao and a plow.

Completing them, Mang Piring cleaned and fortified the dikes to make sure that no irrigation water would seep through, no rats would be able to burrow their way inside and no eel can slither through.

When everything was ready, he summoned the mambubunot ng punla to uproot, bundle and distribute the seedlings to the planting areas.

Early the next day, 25 contracted manananim started transplanting the rice seedlings. He heaved a sigh of relief when the rice planters finished the job. Half of his work was done.

His next works in his field were no less arduous. They included controlling the kuhol (golden apple snails), applying fertilizers, alternately irrigating and draining the field, weeding, and installing traps or baiting stations for rat control.

In due times, Many Piring did pest management, plants’ inspections to determine their needs and possible pest and disease infection, and grass and weed control. Then he looked forward to the fruit of his labors.

He harvested 124 cavans. From it, he subtracted the following: For the harvester, at the rate of eight cavans per hundred cavans; for thresher, 10 cavans per hundred; two for the helpers who helped bagged the grains during threshing; and for the informal lender 15 cavans for his P5,000 loan.

He set aside 15 cavans for home consumption and emergency needs.

Selling the remaining 71 cavans at P800 each, he grossed P56,800. Big enough, but upon deduction of his expenses for land preparation and crop establishment, fertilizers, pesticide-insecticide-molluscicide, irrigation service, replanting and pulling of weeds, snacks of transplanters and laborers, and kariada (hauling sacks of palay) which totaled to P21,370, he netted only P35,430.

No doubt, Mang Piring’s farming, at three and a half months per season, was labor intensive and had higher input cost.

His irrigation service fee, at P0.45 to produce one kg harvest, contributed to the production cost. In Vietnam, it was P0.08; Thailand, P0.14; Indonesia, P0.10; India, P0.12; and zero for China.

Mang Piring used transplanting of the seedlings, in Vietnam, direct seeding was employed. Mang Piring used manual harvesting and threshing, in Vietnam, harvesting and threshing were thru the use of machine.

All in all, Mang Piring spent a total of 68.7 man-day for labor from land preparation to postharvest concerns. For Vietnam, only 21.9 man-day.

Mechanization was a big factor for the shorter number of days spent by the farmers in Vietnam than those in the Philippines.

(To be concluded)



Pitch for Phl rice: Production in sufficiency and competitiveness


(Last of two parts)

Mang Piring’s total harvest from his one-hectare farm during two seasons of cropping, which was at almost ten metric tons of palay, was consistent with the documented average yield of 9.52 mt per hectare in his province.

It was very low compared to the other countries’ respective harvests.

“Nueva Ecija’s yield was second lowest among the ‘rice bowls’ in the six countries surveyed, next to India’s 8.92 mt,” Flordeliza Bordey, PhilRice deputy executive director and one of those involved in the study, said.

Vietnam had the highest average yield, at 20.59 mt. The other countries’ averages were 13.56 mt for China, 11.53 mt for Indonesia, and 10.47 mt for Thailand.

“But Vietnam practiced three croppings a year,” Bordey said. “It has the most intensive cropping system due to availability of water, use of early-maturing varieties, direct seeding, and synchronous planting,” she added.

The croppings in Vietnam were in summer-autumn, autumn-winter, and winter-spring,

In terms of margin of profit, which means subtracting the paid-out cost from the gross revenue, the Nueva Ecija farmers earned P76,240.70 from their wet and dry season croppings of rice in one year in one hectare. The Vietnamese farmers had P112,704.75 which was the second highest average net income achieved by the farmers studied in six countries.

China had the highest net income of P168,823.65. It was followed by Indonesia, P153,032.25 and Thailand, P82,055.85.

The farmers in India had the least net income at P39,393.60.

In terms of the price of the milled rice, Bordey said that the Philippines had a substantially big gross marketing margin (GMM) compared to that of Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand. The GMM in the country was P9.06 per kg while that in Vietnam, only P4.55 per kg. In Indonesia, it was P5.61 while in Thailand, P5.27 per kg.

The marketing costs included transportation, drying, milling, packaging, and storage.

Rice in sufficiency

Historically, the country has been experiencing a “story of recurring shortages” in palay production. As such, it fills the needed supply by importing milled rice.

Written documents indicated that the country imported rice in 1717. Since then, rice importation has become the norm yearly, except for some few years when the country achieved a marginal surplus for export.

Achieving self-sufficiency in rice has been an elusive goal in the country.

It was almost achieved though in 2013 when the country posted a record high 19 million metric tons harvest which was at 97 percent self-sufficiency level. It went down to 92 percent level in 2014, however, due to the vagaries of nature.

The country’s farmers and the government, the rice scientists said, cannot entirely be faulted for the shortfalls in rice production. Compared to the other rice-producing countries in Asia, the country is not blessed with endowments like having big deltas and vast lands suited for rice production.

The country is described as a “narrow island or peninsula with varied landscape suited for diversified agriculture”.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol is not setting a target year for the achievement of this “elusive goal”. But he said the government is doing its level best to provide the infrastructure and the mechanism needed to boost production.

“We recognize the pillars for improving further rice harvests in the country. They are good seeds, irrigation, mechanization, and capital,” Piñol was quoted as saying in his speeches. “We are addressing them,” he added.

He cited the establishment of a big processing center for rice seeds at PhilRice which was put up with funding from the Korean International Cooperation Agency (Koica) of the Republic of Korea. He said with better processed seeds, better yield can be expected.

He said this model of seed processing center would be established in select places in the country.

Piñol also said irrigation pumps powered by solar energy is being considered as a means for additional irrigation facility. His department, he said, has also started providing capital, thru conduits, for the farmers without the usual collateral, at low interest rate and payable after two years or “after the farmer shall have started earning from his endeavor”.

“We are working for the institutionalization of this scheme thru the enactment of a law,” Piñol said. “We are pushing for the wider use of hybrid seed which gives at least 15 percent yield advantage over inbred seeds,” he added.

Paving the pathways

Although the country is disadvantaged in geographical situation for rice farming, it is not without chances for production in sufficiency and at competitive level at that, rice scientists says.

David Dawe of FAO-UN in his treaties included in the book “Competitiveness of Philippine Rice in Asia”, gave key messages that can be considered for policy-making and planning by authorities concerned.

Foremost among them is on labor, the single most important cost of production as documented in the Nueva Ecija study, he said. One approach is to subsidize the use of farm machines which when done can produce the biggest impact on improving competitiveness.

For farmers to own machines, however, is expensive. It will be a wise move to establish assisted rental markets like those being done in other countries.

Its drawback, such as unemployment of landless workers, can be given solution by other concerned authorities.

Another approach, Dawe said, is the adoption of direct seeding technology. The refinement of agronomic management practices on this must be given attention, he added.

On the use of fertilizer, which is the most important material input, he said judicious application should be the rule. One measure is to apply more nitrogen fertilizer during the dry season cropping and less during wet season.

Bordey, on the other hand, said milling recovery should be improved. She suggested the use of varieties with similar grain length and shape and better head recovery.

“The use of hybrid rice seed for planting is one factor that can increase production. It should be done, however, in suitable areas as this type of rice seed is location-specific,” she said.

Bordey posited that research and development should be intensified in the aspect of reducing cost of production and increasing yield on the competitive level.

On giving direct subsidies on inputs, like on fertilizer, the scientists advised: “Don’t. They will not help much to increase competitiveness. They, on the other hand will be a big strain on the budget which could otherwise be given to other support services like road, health, and education.”

“The direct subsidies may also encourage overuse and as such will have large adverse environmental effects,” the scientists said.
BEST AGRICULTURE FEATURE STORY NATIONAL
“CAN 13-YEAR-OLD MANUAL SAVE PHL FROM BIRD FLU?”
JASPER EMMANUEL Y. ARCALAS
BUSINESS MIRROR
In 2004, the government under then President Arroyo developed the Avian Influenza Protection Program (AIPP) Manual of Procedures. This manual would indeed be valuable when the Avian Flu was confirmed in San Luis, Pampanga.
FULL STORY
2017 BEST AGRICULTURE FEATURE STORY NATIONAL
“CAN 13-YEAR-OLD MANUAL SAVE PHL FROM BIRD FLU?”
JASPER EMMANUEL Y. ARCALAS
Business Mirror


Part One


IT was a day Joy Lagayan dreaded as she rummaged through shelves looking for something “valuable”. It was something that Lagayan, a veterinarian working for the government, never thought she would pull out from rows and rows of books. She dreaded that day a glossy-white covered book would be put to use after more than a decade.

Because Lagayan knew, as she took a deep sigh, the book spelled death. “It’s our bible,” Lagayan said, while taking by the head the Avian Influenza Protection Program (AIPP) Manual of Procedures.


Dreaded


LAGAYAN, a staff of the Bureau of Animal Industry’s Animal Health and Welfare Division for five years, explained taking out the AIPP manual is bringing her stress.

“It’s stressful; very, very stressful,” Lagayan told the BusinessMirror, when she learned that the Avian Influenza (AI) virus has landed in the Philippines.

“It’s good we have this. It made things a little bit easier for us,” said Lagayan, a doctor of veterinary medicine for 13 years now, tapping the cover page of the AIPP.

The government, led by then- President Gloria-Macapagal Arroyo, started crafting the AIPP in 2004, when the feared AI, commonly known as “bird flu”, resurfaced in Asia. The goal was to protect the country’s borders from the virus that killed millions of birds in Southeast Asia back then.


Border protection


BY virtue of Executive Order (EO) 280, Series of 2004, Arroyo outlined the powers, functions and responsibilities of government agencies in preventing and addressing the bird-flu virus.

“Due to an outbreak of the bird- flu virus, which has affected many countries in Asia, including the deaths of at least twelve people in Vietnam and Thailand, bold, preemptive, active and immediate measures must be taken by the Philippines in order to avert or minimize its grave effects,” Arroyo said in EO 280, signed on February 5, 2004.

“In the event the epidemic can no longer be prevented and, in order to confine, minimize, restrict or regulate the further spread of the contagion, such measures and actions relative to fowl, poultry, other birds or animals and people, infected or suspected to be infected with the virus, need to be implemented,” Arroyo added.

Through EO 280, the secretaries of Health and Agriculture were designated as crisis manager and comanager, respectively, should the bird-flu virus reach the Philippines.

Both Health and Agriculture secretaries were given full power and authority necessary to restrict the entry of bird-flu virus in the country.

The Department of Health (DOH) is particularly tasked to control any possible transmission and cases of bird flu in humans. The Department of Agriculture (DA) was tasked to protect the monitor and protect the Philippine poultry industry from the virus.

The crisis managers are also given the power to “call” upon all government agencies for assistance and support in carrying their respective duties. These government agencies include the departments of Interior and Local Government, Foreign Affairs, Transportation and Communication, Education, Labor and Employment and National Defense. The Office of the Press Secretary was also called to support the crisis managers.

Secure regions

BY 2005 the government intensified its efforts to keep the country’s borders free from AI.

The government, through the DOH, released the “Preparedness and Response Plan for Avian and Pandemic Influenza”, (PRPAPI) paving the way for the codification and institutionalization of measures the state shall undertake in preventing, controlling and addressing the dreaded virus.

In gist, the document outlines four possible stages the Philippines could encounter with bird flu: 1) an AI-free nation; 2) AI outbreak in poultry; 3) AI transmission from poultry to huimans; and 4) AI transmission among humans.

“The pandemic clock is ticking. It cannot be predicted when the pandemic will occur, but it is always best to be prepared all the time,” then-Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III said in the preface of the document. “After all, it wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.”

In the same year the DA and DOH issued Joint Administrative Order 01, which authorized the adoption of the AIPP and the establishment of the National Avian Influenza Task Force.

The order emphasized that the AIPP manual is the official AI prevention and preparedness plan of the country.


Shake the disease


TO date, the AIPP only outlines procedures to undertake for Stage 1 and Stage 2 of a bird-flu scenario as outlined by PRPAPI.

There are generally three types of avian influenza: A, B and C, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO). Avian-influenza viruses are divided into: highly pathogenic and low pathogenic (LPAI) strains based on its ability to cause disease in poultry.

An LPAI “is a natural infection of waterfowl that may cause minimal to no signs of disease in domestic poultry and wild birds and is not a serious threat,” the FAO said. “Highly pathogenic avian influenza is rarely found in waterfowl, but causes severe disease in domestic poultry with a high death rate.”

The AI viruses are further classified according to their strains, or subtypes based on two proteins: haemglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). There are currently 16 recognized H types and nine N types, according to the FAO. The combination of these strains dictate the extent of effect of the virus: Is it dreadful to humans or just mere sickness among chickens?

For the Philippines, the biggest concern now is whether the confirmed AI subtype, A H5 virus in two barangays in San Luis, Pampanga, could be transmitted to humans. Only H5N1 and H5N6 are known to date to be transmissible to humans.

Recent government laboratory tests ruled out that the AI virus the Philippines has contains the strain of H5N.

As for H5N6? The country is still awaiting further information from the Australian Animal Health Laboratory, where samples from the Philippines were brought to.

“We always boast to the international community that we are AI free, for years, in the region,” Lagayan said. “And they always doubted us. They do not believe we were AI free. But now, it’s real. It’s here,” she added.


Part Two



IT took only one word to make a 13-year-old white manual gathering dust in a shelf into the government’s “bible” against avian influenza (AI): confirmed.

This word also managed to turn an office of at least 10 government veterinarians into a “ghost town”.

“On the Saturday after the AI outbreak in San Luis, Pampanga, was announced, people here were immediately deployed,” government-employed animal physician Joy Lagayan said.

“We used to be noisy here. Now, all of them are in the field. We are now like a ghost town,” added Lagayan, who is with the Bureau of Animal Industry’s (BAI)
Animal Health and Welfare Division office, staring at the empty cubicles in the 30-square meter office.


Armed


WHEN Lagayan’s colleagues were deployed in the town of San Luis—ground zero of the outbreak—they were armed with their bible: the “Avian Influenza Protection Program [AIPP] Manual of Procedures”.

“All of us have this. Even those in the field at the moment,” she told the BusinessMirror in an interview. “It made things a little bit easier for us. What are written here are the things we are following now.”

The contents of AIPP trace back more than a decade ago when the Philippine government was keen in protecting its borders from the intrusion of the dreaded bird-flu virus that resurfaced in Asia in 2003.

It was adopted on April 20, 2005 through the Joint Department of Agriculture (DA) and Department of Health (DOH) Administrative Order 1. This order also established the National Avian Influenza Task Force (NAITF), according to Arlene Asteria V. Vytiaco, the government’s focal person for AI.

“The AIPP Manual of Procedures has become one of the primary references for information on the government’s AI prevention program and preparedness plan,” Vytiaco said in the foreword of the AIPP 2016 updated version. “The courses of action mainly address HPAI [highly pathogenic Avian Influenza] incursion.”


Stages


UNDER the government’s “Preparedness and Response Plan for Avian and Pandemic Influenza” (PRPAPI) there are four possible stages the Philippines could encounter with bird flu: 1) an AI-free nation; 2) AI outbreak in poultry; 3) AI transmission from poultry to humans; and 4) AI transmission among humans.

“The pandemic clock is ticking. It cannot be predicted when the pandemic will occur, but it is always best to be prepared all the time,” then-Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III said in the preface of the document. “After all, it wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.”

The AIPP only outlines procedures to undertake for Stage 1 and Stage 2 of a bird-flu scenario as outlined by PRPAPI.


Prevention


THE imposition of import bans is one of the most important preventive measures that the Philippines implements to avert intrusion of bird-flu virus.

Under the AIPP, the Agriculture Secretary is authorized to issue a memorandum order that would temporarily ban the importation of poultry and poultry products from AI-affected countries.

These products include: live poultry, wild birds, day-old chicks, semen, eggs and other poultry products and by-products. Section 1.1.1. of the AIPP states that the DA can impose a temporary ban on these products based on the information provided by the affected countries to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) or notification from a Notifiable Avian Influenza (NAI) Affected Countries/Zones.

Upon the imposition of a ban, the Philippines stops the processing of and issuance and giving import permits to NAI-affected countries. Furthermore, products that are in-transit to the Philippines prior to the declaration by the OIE of its source country as NAI-affected shall be denied entry into Manila.

“The DA-BAI shall advise the exporting country or zone of the decision to have cargo entry discontinued and the courses of action to be taken by the Philippines,” Section 1.4.2. of the AIPP said.

“Live poultry and bird importation shall be humanely destroyed upon arrival in the Philippines and buried in a designated area. Poultry and bird
product, including hatching-egg importation, will be destroyed and disinfected prior to burying in designated area,” it added. “Processed poultry-product importation will be rendered and buried in designated area.”

The DA has been strict in imposing this measure for the past years. In fact, whether a NAI-affected country reports an outbreak in a specific region or in the entirety of it, the DA imposes automatically a blanket ban on imports from it.


Biosecurity


UNDER the AIPP, the government shall also conduct a biannual surveillance on identified “poultry critical areas” in the Philippines. These areas are considered the most vulnerable parts of the country that could be infiltrated by the bird- flu virus.

These “critical” areas are identified based on the following: presence of waterfowl and migratory birds, hotspots for illegal trade and wildlife and live-bird markets.

“For every critical area, six barangays shall be identified for sample collection. Thirty blood samples, 30 oropharyngeal [throat] and 30 cloacal [body cavity into which the intestinal, urinary and genital canals empty in birds] swabs shall be collected from target poultry in each of the six identified barangays,” AIPPS’s Section 4.1.3.2. reads. The samples shall be submitted to either the government’s regional laboratories or to the national laboratory in the BAI.

At present there are at least 60 identified poultry critical areas across 13 regions in the country.

The government also established NAI-free poultry-production zones that would allow easier micromanaging of areas in case of an outbreak. These zones are identified based on its natural geographic boundaries, such bodies of water, mountain ranges or controllable points of entry. Under the AIPP, the country’s 17 administrative regions have been divided into 25 NAI-free zones.

The establishment of these zones aims to recognize defined territories with existing administrative jurisdictions that can prevent the entry or control the spread of NAI, according to the document. Another objective is to facilitate a more efficient surveillance and detection of the disease and to ensure availability of distinct and disease-free production areas both for export and local markets.


Surveillance


UNDER the AIPP, the local government units, particularly those in the identified zones, shall serve as “frontliners” in the surveillance of AI.

The surveillance shall be conducted based on a sampling frame. This “sampling frame” includes the list of all farm or poultry owners in a locality, as well as other supporting units or industries that handle poultry and poultry products, according to the AIPP.

The list shall also contain information on the poultry demographics in the area, including the names of farm owners, farm location, species of poultry, disease profile, biosecurity practices and even marketing practice.

“The BAI shall identify the areas to be sampled and the number of samples needed per area. The DA-Regional Field Offices shall be responsible for the collection of samples in the identified areas,” it added, saying the sampling shall be conducted at least twice a year.

The government has made it known that two farms in San Luis, Pampanga, have been struck by the AI subtype A-H5 virus. However, the question how it got there remains unanswered.

Government officials are ruling out the probability that it was caused by migratory birds. Some, like Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol, considers smuggling
of fowls from China as the culprit.

Whatever the cause may be, the outbreak in these towns shows that despite preventive measures, the Philippines—like any other Southeast Asian region—remains vulnerable to the dreaded bird-flu virus.


Part Three


PREVENTION is better than cure. But prevention has its limits; once exceeded, the only remedy left is to solve it.

And this is something that the Department of Agriculture (DA) will not forget, after the dreaded avian influenza (AI) virus landed in the Philippines.

“We will be stricter now and learn from this incident,” Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said. “If we only had a biosecurity team that regularly inspects the farms, then we could have discovered [AI] as early as May.”

The DA traced back the AI outbreak in two towns in San Luis, Pampanga, and found out that symptoms of the disease were observable as early as April. The government confirmed the AI on August 11.


Stage 2


THE Philippines has reached Stage 2.

Under the government’s Preparedness and Response Plan for Avian and Pandemic Influenza (PRPAPI), there are four possible stages the Philippines could encounter with the bird-flu virus: 1) an AI-free nation; 2) AI outbreak in poultry; 3) AI transmission from poultry to humans; and 4) AI transmission among humans. Stage 1 the Philippines is no longer.

The government, led by the DA, is now addressing the AI outbreak under the guidance of what experts call “the bible” on AI: Avian Influenza Protection Program (AIPP) Manual of Procedures.

Under the AIPP, an area shall be considered as a “Suspect Premises” of having AI upon the observation of any unusual increase in the mortality rate of fowls among commercial poultry operations, backyard poultry raisers and caged birds.

“For commercial poultry operations: Occurrence of a one-day mortality of 3 percent [on the basis of the house population] followed by a twofold increasing trend for the next three days with no evident cause attributable to management, nutritional or environmental factors,” the AIPP read. “For backyard poultry raisers: Any unexplained mortality of poultry in two or more households within a barangay/purok in a span of two days.”

For caged birds, aviaries and wild birds, “any unexplained mortality with no evident cause attributable to nutritional, management or environmental factors or human intervention”, should be suspected of AI, according to the AIPP.


Reporting


ONCE the unusual deaths of fowls in a certain area is reported to the government, a veterinarian in charge shall initiate and complete within 24 hours the recommended diagnostic procedures to confirm the case.

“For farms with diagnostic laboratory capabilities, the veterinarian may opt to initially conduct an in-farm testing of a minimum of 30 tracheal/oropharyngeal [throat] swabs collected from poultry that recently died or from poultry showing any clinical signs, using a rapid test for [the] Influenza-A virus,” the AIPP read.

The veterinarian will submit 30 blood and tracheal/oropharyngeal, or OP, samples (15 from apparently healthy and 15 from sick birds) to the Animal Disease Diagnostic and Reference Laboratory (ADDRL) of the Veterinary Laboratory Division (VLD) of Department of Agriculture (DA)—Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) or Regional Avian Influenza Laboratories of identified DA Regional Field Offices (Darfos), the AIPP manual said. It added that the samples will also be tested for other avian diseases such as newcastle disease (ND), infectious bronchitis (IB), infectious laryngotracheitis and fowl cholera, among others.


Prohibitions


AFTER the initial report, an investigating team shall be formed to conduct an investigation within 24 hours on the suspected AI-affected premises. The team shall be comprised of local veterinarian; technical staff of the Regional Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory; and DENR local officers if the suspicion involved wild birds, according to the AIPP manual.

“The Investigating Team shall submit a written report to the BAI director within 24 hours,” it read.

The AIPP pointed out that all people within the suspected AI-affected premises shall stay in the area for 24 to 72 hours while awaiting the results of the laboratory tests.

“Movement of poultry, poultry products, equipment, supplies, feeds, manure, etc. out of the suspect premises is strictly prohibited and shall be imposed by the veterinarian in authority,” it read. “Additional assistance from the Philippine National Police [PNP] and local chief executives [LCEs] shall be sought in case there is a need to enforce regulations.”

The AIPP manual added that stray animals and rodent in the area shall be also monitored and controlled.


Quarantine


AN area shall only be declared as affected by AI once the BAI-VLD-ADDRL, or the national reference laboratory, confirms the samples from the site tested positive for H5 or H7 via reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests.

Once confirmed, the BAI-Animal Health and Welfare Division (AHWD) shall submit a formal case reporting the confirmation to the BAI director. The BAI AHWD will also recommend the reclassification of suspect premises to HPAI-infected premises.

“The BAI director will inform the DA secretary and coordinate with the Darfo, DENR, Department of Health [DOH] and local government unit [LGU] concerned before the formal declaration of the area as HPAI-infected premises,” the AIPP read. “The LGU shall acknowledge the declaration through a local ordinance stating the activities to be carried out in an infected premises and the responsibilities of the different government agencies.”


Culling


UPON announcing there’s an outbreak in an area, the DA shall immediately declare a quarantine area, which is a “minimum” of 1-kilometer radius from the infected premises. The DA will then conduct a stamping out, or culling, of all poultry birds found within the quarantine area to contain the spread of the virus.

The stamping out of the poultry in the quarantine area shall be conducted through three possible ways stated under the AIPP: cervical dislocation (breaking the chicken’s neck whether manual or mechanical), carbon dioxide (CO2) suffocation and electrical single application.

Cervical dislocation shall be done by crushing the neck of the fowl using a pair of pliers or by hands. As for CO2 suffocation, the birds shall be placed in a container exposed to an atmosphere of at least 30-percent CO2, which puts the fowl to sleep, and 70 percent to kill them.

Meanwhile, the third option shall involve placing the bird in an electrified water bath wherein a 50Hz frequency current shall be applied for a minimum of 10 seconds to kill them.


Deaths


ONCE the birds are dead, they shall be buried in an identified location within the 1-km quarantine area. A burial pit should be constructed with a dimension as deep as practically possible, where the dead birds will be buried.

“All poultry products and materials associated with euthanized poultry or birds in the infected premises and quarantine area shall be included in the disposal. This shall include rice hulls, eggs, manure, feeds, etc.,” the AIPP manual read. “Every person involved in the destruction of the birds shall wear protective gear, such as cover-all, mask, headgear, rubber boots and waterproof gloves. Farm owners shall be required to secure the necessary protective gears for their farm personnel.”

The protective gears include protective clothing; heavy-duty rubber work gloves that can be disinfected; N-95 masks; safety goggles; and rubber/polyurethane boots.

The AIPP manual also stipulated that people conducting the culling shall be given a prophylactic medication as to prevent transmission of bird flu. It added that they should also wash their hands frequently with soap and water, followed by hand disinfection with 70-percent alcohol or iodine-based hand wash.

Movement of poultry, poultry products, and even live swine in and out of the 1-kilometer quarantine is prohibited. The government shall trace and identify the possible source of the AI by back-tracking 21 days prior to the declaration of the infection. The following are considered potential sources of the virus: hatchery, poultry farms, processing plants, poultry and poultry product retail outlets, live-bird markets, aviaries, egg depots and cold-storage facilities.


Control area


THE BAI director shall also identify a 7-kilometer-zone radius from the periphery of the boundary of the quarantine area as a control area. If he or she deems it possible, the BAI director can extend the control area.

All the avian species within the 7-km radius shall be under strict surveillance for possible detection of Influenza A.

“Observation of clinical signs suggestive of avian influenza in any avian population, such as respiratory and nervous, signs and high mortalities should be immediately reported to the city, municipal, provincial veterinarian or agriculturist so that immediate evaluation of avian health status can be done,” the AIPP manual said. “Animals with respiratory signs shall be subjected to a rapid field test procedure for the detection of Influenza A by the BAI or Darfo. Tracheal or oropharyngeal swabs will also be collected and submitted to BAI-ADDRL for RT-PCR testing.”

The government shall also prohibit the movement of poultry and poultry-related products within and outside the 7-km radius. On top of which, any activity involving the gathering of any/bird species in the control area is not allowed. “This shall include cockfighting, sale of live birds in public market or in any road network, trade fair or show of poultry, etc.”

The government shall only allow movement of poultry and poultry-related products from the control area if there will be new case of AI reported after a 21-day period since the start of stamping out. However, shipments from the 7-km radius must have a veterinary health certificate and shipping permit issued by the BAI.


Recovery


AFTER the stamping of all fowls in the 1-km quarantine area, the government shall start cleaning and disinfecting the affected premises.

The government will also observe a 21-day rest period prior to the restocking of sentinel poultry, which will serve as determinants of the presence of the bird-flu virus in the affected area. The government will use broiler chicks as sentinel birds for this matter.

“Restocking of sentinel poultry at 2 percent of the house population [for commercial poultry operation] or 30 heads [for backyard poultry operation] shall be done in the infected premises and in selected locations within the quarantine area,” the AIPP read. “The poultry shall be given the basic vaccination program for infectious bursal disease, IB and ND. The sentinel poultry shall be grown to a minimum period of 35 days.”

During the 35-day growing period, 30 oropharyngeal or tracheal swab samples from the same set of poultry shall be taken on Days 1, 7, 14, 21 and 28, which will be tested using RT-PCR for H5 or H7. On Day 35, 30 representative sentinel animals (or 10 birds for backyard farms) shall be sacrificed for necropsy and organ sampling for testing, according to AIPP.


Cleaning, repopulation


THE AIPP manual said in the event of a potential repeat of infection in the infected premises, the growing of the sentinel birds shall be immediately terminated.

“The same procedures as [cited] in the Stamping Out activity shall be implemented.” Once laboratory results from the BAI-VLD-ADDRL showed the absence of the NAI virus, the premises then shall be subjected to cleaning and disinfection in preparation for repopulation.

“The director of BAI shall declare an infected area as a disease-free area when no indication of infection is detected in the sentinel population,” the manual read. “The declaration shall be based on RT-PCR test results from BAI-VLD-ADDRL.” Repopulation of the previously infected premises shall be carried out upon approval by the DA-BAI based on results of growing the sentinel poultry, the manual added.

Today, the DA is now halfway the completion of the 21 rest-day period to conduct the dispersal of sentinel birds in the AI-affected areas in San Luis, Pampanga.

If things unfold the way they should be, then the Philippines’s first-ever AI case could be put into rest at the soonest practical time. Should this happen, the government’s 13-year-old manual could prove to be really its bible: an ageless remedy to bird flu.
BEST AGRICULTURE FEATURE STORY REGIONAL
“CINDERELLA MAN”
JOHN GLEN S. SAROL
FROM FEARS TO CHEERS BOOK AUGUST 2017 BY PHILRICE-JICA
This is the story of Magellan Guiner a farmer from Manguindanao who after attending a training course from PhilRice has not only become a successful farmer but is also sharing his learnings with others.
FULL STORY
2017 BEST AGRICULTURE FEATURE STORY REGIONAL
“CINDERELLA MAN”
JOHN GLEN S. SAROL
From Fears to Cheers Book August 2017 by PhilRice-JICA


It’s a routine. In his early 40s, Magellan Guiner wakes up in the morning and treks his way to Kabulman river.


HUMBLE BEGINNINGS


Every rainy season, the river somewhat turns into a wishing well that grants an opportunity for people from Labu- Labu, Datu Hoffer, Maguindanao to collect washed-out wood and sell it at a humble price.

When the harvest season arrives, Magellan operates a harvester machine. He says he earns P10,000 for each cropping, enough to last a month.

In their small nipa hut – just enough to fit him, Fasmina his wife, and Datu Handie, his only child – Magellan takes deep breaths, and dreams each night hoping to find new ways to earn for his family.

This was in 2013.

Now, Magellan rents a one-hectare rice farm and owns a vegetable garden. He raises ducks, chickens, and even owns 2 carabaos that help him till his land.

He harvests 100 sacks of rice each cropping and sells it at P18 per kilo. Eggplants, string beans, and tomatoes occupy his 450 sqm garden. Every 4 days, Magellan sells his vegetables for P250 to P400 in the nearest market, and grosses P30,000 each harvest.

He also sells ducks and chickens. In 2016, he sold two carabaos for P22,000 each.

Magellan has also earned the respect of the town, not just because of his recent success in farming but of his willingness to teach.

A farmer-to-farmer extension worker, Magellan treats his farm as his own classroom, echoing to fellow farmers what he learned during his training under the PhilRice-JICA TCP 5 project. Because of his dedication, he enjoys a P500 incentive from JICA and another P3,000 for being a local farmer-technician assigned by the Department of Agriculture.

He is also set to chair Sitio Kusang Bangsamoro Cooperative and Marketing, a new group in Labu-Labu with 25 members.

An inspiring story of new beginnings, Magellan professes it is all because of Allah, his God.



A STRONG FOUNDATION


In 2014, Magellan joined a group of farmers in a 14-day training in Luzon made possible by TCP 5. Little did he know, it would soon change his life.

“Everything I learned during those 14 days were foundations of my farm. Right after the training, I decided to rent a farm and apply everything I learned,” Magellan reflects.

Each planting season, he carefully chooses the right certified variety. He says he treats it as the most crucial stage in farming.

“I always remind myself, even if I follow all the right techniques and technologies, if I don’t plant the appropriate variety, then it’s useless,” Magellan advises. He says he plants NSIC Rc222, Rc128, and Rc238 because they are high-yielding.

With the help of the Minus-One Element Technique (MOET), a reliable test kit that determines nutrient deficiency in actual field conditions, Magellan has finally come to terms with the lack of nitrogen in his rice farm.

“I apply triple 14 and urea 10 days after planting, then after 45 days,” he explains.

Magellan also seeks help from Datu Ali Sumlay, an Agricultural Development Officer in Maguindanao who uses the Rice Crop Manager (RCM) to give recommendations on nutrient, pest, weed, and water management.

“RCM has helped me understand how to manage my farm effectively. It is an effective tool because it gives me advice just for my own rice farm,” says Magellan.

“The RCM is a digital application that can be accessed by extension workers through smartphones or a computer with Internet connection. It gives recommendations based on the farmer’s used variety, yield from the previous season, and the site- specific conditions of the field,” Sumlay adds.


MENACE AND CONSENSUS


Magellan grunts a little. Rats and black bugs bother him most. These pests have been a common plague to Labu-Labu farmers throughout the years.

“Pests are very pesky but they can be managed. For some time now, I have convinced farmers here to plant at the same time to prevent more damaging rat and black bug attacks,” Magellan didn’t seem to need a guidebook.

Magellan says he also grew flowering plants near his farm to attract more non-harmful insects that eat pests. He says he always sees praying mantises, spiders, grasshoppers, and dragonflies patrolling the farm.

“I remove weeds in my rice farm before we plant, and I also let my ducklings loose so they can eat the black bugs and sometimes even young Golden Apple Snails,” says Magellan.

Magellan hunts rats at night with fellow farmers. “I encouraged them that we work together for us to try to solve this rodent menace,” he added.

During the dry months, water supply coming from Kabulman river thirsts. Magellan laments it has worsened each year. He now uses a water pump for

his rice and vegetables. He also often lends it to neighboring farmers.

“There was a time when we didn’t need water pumps but times have changed,” his voice cracked.

Magellan also plants mungbeans in his rice farm before the next planting season. He explains it as his way to cope with climate change. Over time, he taught his fellow farmers to do the same practice.

“I believe if farmers would help each other solve any problem, we can solve anything, eventually,” vows Magellan.


FROM 10 TO 50


Datu Ali Sumlay is a witness to Magellan’s Cinderella story.

“Mang Magellan is just one living example that if we continue to persevere in life, no matter how hard the circumstances, there will come a time when we will reap the fruits of our hard work,” Sumlay said.

In just 2 years, from a nipa hut, Magellan’s house has turned into sturdy concrete; from 15x10-feet to 25x50-feet floor area, wide enough for Datu Handie to play. He has also managed to buy 2 motorcycles and a Kubota tractor.

“All fully paid,” you can sense the satisfaction in Magellan’s smile.

“Now, I don’t have to worry about how to transport our produce to the market, or soon, to fetch my son from school,” Magellan giggles.

To further inspire farmers, Magellan put up his vegetable garden near the Labu-Labu Elementary

School so that he could set an example and convince everyone to diversify their crops.

Considering himself a fast learner, Magellan is never contented. “I still want to learn more,” he says.

With fiery eyes, “I still want to learn more,” he reiterated.


TRIUMPHANT CALLUSES


“When a farmer is successful, people oftentimes disregard the hardships that go with it. Farming is not a job for quitters,” Magellan urged.

For the last 2 years, Magellan has learned that farming is a skill that can be forged in time and can be learned by anyone who can take up the challenge.

For him, farming can be as lazy as planting and waiting for the harvest season but it can also be as complex as diversifying crops, and applying new farming technologies.

“In the end, what I really want to do is to keep on improving and to soon buy my own rice farm. I know in my heart that this is something that I want to do for the rest of my life,” he says with bliss.

It’s a routine. Magellan is now 42. At 6 am, he walks to his farm then straight to his favorite spot in his vegetable garden, an unfinished nipa hut he built for himself. “I forget time when I’m here,” he keeps reminding me.

He has snapped out of his daydream, he clutches his fist, and feels every callus. He smiles, looks at me, and tells me it was all worth it.
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