BONG WENCELSAO:

With the current ban on fowl ship from Luzon to the Visayas, Wenceslao foresees an unfavorable season for the poultry industry. Agriculture Sec. Emmanuel Piñol has called on citizens to help in government efforts in cleaning up farms and monitoring chickens for any signs of disease. But would Piñol be heard, asks Wenceslao. The fear is that when faced with choices between the common good and losing money, some would opt to choose business over public welfare.

There is currently an outbreak of bird flu in Luzon, which has prompted the Department of Agriculture to ban the shipment of fowl from that area to other parts of the Philippines. The aim is primarily to ensure other fowl won’t be contaminated, after all, the particular strain of the bird flu virus infecting fowl can’t infect humans. But this is bad for the fowl and eggs industry and should affect their prices.

“This is the first time that the country has recorded the presence of the bird flu virus, and I am calling on all Filipinos to please help government contain this crisis by cleaning up their farms and closely monitoring their chickens for any signs of the disease,” Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said.

But would Piñol’s call be heard? Quarantine and the threat of fowl being killed to prevent the spread of the disease would prod fowl and egg raisers and traders to choose between the common good and the prospect of losing money. And not everybody would choose the common good.

I learned about that during the outbreak of the so-called foot-and-mouth disease (also called hoofand-mouth disease) when I was in high school (okay, that would essentially be decades ago). The disease, which affects “cloven-hoofed” animals, causes high fever from two to six days after which blisters show up inside their mouth and on the feet, thus the name.

A ban on the movement of farm animals was also put in place at that time, affecting farm animal raisers and traders. I remember that ban or quarantine because I was vacationing in the town of Tudela in the Camotes group of islands at that time, staying with my uncle (the husband of my father’s half-sister), who was engaged in buying and selling of farm animals and hogs.

My uncle’s house at that time was in the mountains (I actually am tempted to call them hills because they are not as high as those in the Cebu mainland) of Barangay General, where my father spent his early years. While the structure was made primarily of wood and cogon, it was relatively big, attesting to his status in the village. I remember that during fiestas the house was always full of visitors throughout the day.

When the ban was put in place, my uncle already bought a sizeable number of farm animals ready to be transported to the Cebu mainland via Mandaue City. When told about the quarantine, he decided to bring the farm animals to Baybay, Leyte instead where he thought authorities wouldn’t be as strict. Baybay is right across the sea off Tudela to the east and during good days one can espy from afar some structures there.

We arrived near the Baybay port at around 10 p.m. but my uncle and the boatman were advised not to dock because the farm animals would be seized. The boatman steered the vessel to the shore a kilometer or so away from the pier. After hours of waiting, the farm animals were finally brought to the shore, after the payments—probably below the market price--were made.

It was already morning when we got back home because the boatman had decided to bring passengers to the island-town of Pilar, also in Camotes, for a fee, before heading back to Tudela.