Good news for sabungeros (Sabong News)
Author
Cito Beltran
Date
OCTOBER 17 2022
Last Saturday afternoon, I was on the phone calling up different sabungeros and backyard breeders in my search for multi-colored or spangled color hens to infuse with my “feathered pets” in Lipa, Batangas. I was in the process of searching far and wide and one tip led me to a couple of breeders in Bacolod. For those of you who may not know it, the province of Negros, particularly Bacolod and its outskirts, is generally referred to as “green legs” country because of the amount of “Texas” chickens they have bred and sold through many decades.
Much like their rich American counterparts in the past, the hacienderos of Negros/Bacolod have been known for their wide plantations and their fancy for fighting cocks and gentlemanly wagers. But when the sugar industry started to contract and jobs became uncertain, many hacienderos as well as farm hands became serious breeders and producers of gamecocks and invested large sums of money to buy the best breeds in the US as well as the Philippines. There was a time when Luzon had many of the best birds until things took a turn and Bacolod gave the Tagalogs and Manila boys a run for their money. In fact, the Negros boys were so good that their production reached commercial levels and even ordinary folks got into the backyard business of breeding and selling “green legs.”
I was informed by the breeders that even if they could supply me the material I needed, they could not guarantee when they could ship the hens because being backyard breeders they do not have the size and the financial resource or justification to spend all the money required by the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Animal Industry to register their operations, spend on the laboratory and farm surveillance procedure to qualify as legitimate “farms” or breeders, as well as the testing process for the hens to be shipped out. In other words, the guys I was speaking with would have to find a registered farm willing to be a “mule” or allow the hens to piggyback on their documentation and clearance from the regional BAI or provincial vet as the case may be.
I was further informed that several breeders and small operations have closed down or stopped breeding since they have no guarantees if they will be able to sell and ship the birds to customers in Luzon, Visayas, Indonesia and Malaysia. Yes, some breeders I know were exporting our “pang sabong” just before COVID-19 struck. The situation is apparently quite serious because for many small people, being able to sell their Bacolod green legs or lemons etc., essentially spelled the difference between making a living or going poor. They don’t gamble, they just sell and the amounts some of them make in a year are enough to send kids to college.
I had written about this anti-poor curse on backyard breeders as well as large gamefowl farms all over the country before, but little seemed to happen until I started shaking the bushes last Saturday night when I first checked with former DA-Usec Fermin Adriano, who explained that the complication was caused by the influx of bird flu cases from imported breeding materials for poultry, like from the Netherlands. I know this to be true since my wife who is in the Netherlands shared a news story about thousands of birds being culled recently.
The problem with this imported nightmare is that the DA has historically reacted by imposing blanket bans, quarantine and massive culling but has failed to invest and level up their diagnostic capabilities much less establish this mandatory facilities in every region of the country. Sir Fermin shared that the DA has been slow to partner up with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the many SUCs or state universities and colleges all over the Philippines to tap their diagnostic capabilities, expertise and experience in microbiology.
Instead, the DA has relied on their main lab in Quezon City or one maybe two accredited laboratories to handle a ton of requests. From there Mr. Adriano pointed me to the director of the Bureau of Animal Industry, Dr. Reildrin Morales, just in case there may be new developments in the very sad situation. Thank God I followed Sir Fermin’s tip because Director Morales certainly had good news, although he was understandably reluctant to share the specifics, except that I was not going to let go of the bone.
It turns out that in addition to my on-and-off mention of the problem in my column and on the program AGENDA, several congressmen from the province of Negros have been taking turns bringing up the matter to the officials of the Department of Agriculture. Since June 2022, the DA and BAI were already consulting with regional directors and provincial veterinarians as well as stakeholders to collect their inputs on how to remedy the situation. As a result, a new policy or protocol was signed last week that will allow farms and backyard breeders to ship birds from, and to, any point of the country subject to a “surveillance program” done by LGU veterinarians and DA regional officials. If an LGU of origin is classified as bird flu free, the classification will be effective for a period of six months, during which outgoing shipment of fowls will be allowed with minimum requirements. After six months a new surveillance will be the basis for the next six months.
Unfortunately the good news won’t take effect immediately because the BAI has to conduct a fresh orientation program for all their quarantine officers all over the country, and the DA and the DILG will have to coordinate to make sure that all LGUs in the Philippines will strictly comply in conducting surveillance programs for disease outbreaks all over the Philippines. In any case, we get to start the week with good news from the BAI.
