Even with the confirmation of the Department of Agriculture that ASF has entered Rizal, Quezon City and Bulacan areas in Luzon, but at least it is only confined within the said areas. The additional effort to be done now is to ensure that it will not spread further to other areas. Good that our country is an archipelago, there is a natural bio-security, so at least the spread of the disease is not easy.
Being the DA secretary, it must be clear to the minds of Dar and his people that if ASF will spread to the other part of the country, the P260 billion hog industry will certainly die. The amount can cause inflation, according to economic experts. So while there is no cure yet discovered for this kind of swine disease, at least the problem will be confined only in certain areas in Luzon.
Consequently, it can affect people who rely in the industry for their livelihood. As per data, in Cebu alone it will affect to 670,000 households in its 44 local government units. Could you imagine how many are affected in the whole country? In either case, Dar is wrong. For government to take concrete action against the spread of ASF, it is important that its point persons especially Dar must be knowledgeable on the issue. If he lacks it, he should ask the experts in his department to brief him on the matter.