The Cebu Provincial Government is not backing down in its position in the handling of the African Swine Fever and defended provincial veterinarian Dr. Mary Rose Vincoy whose being ostracized by her peers and is calling for professional sanctions against her.
In a strongly worded message, Gov. Gwen Garcia ordered Cebu Police Provincial Chief Colonel Rommel Ochave to arrest anyone who conducts random testing of pigs without the approval of the Province as provided for in Executive Order No. 8, series of 2023 issued last month.
“I am calling Police Col. Rommel Ochave and all chiefs of police, they are called upon to monitor the strict implementation of this memorandum,” Gov. Gwen said during Monday’s presser at the Capitol where she was joined by her legal team.
“Anybody else conducting random testing regardless of whether or not they come from national government agencies, in this case, the BAI, sorry I’m not sorry, they cannot do this under this memo. You shall prevent them because they have not complied with what is very clear under the local government code,” she added.
On March 29, Capitol lodged a complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman Visayas against certain officials of the Bureau of Animal Industry for abuse of authority and violations of certain provisions of RA 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991 by failing to coordinate with the Capitol in implementing their “questionable” measures in containing the swine diseases.
Yesterday, the governor reacted to local news reports showing an increase in the number of ASF-affected areas in the province based on the Bureau of Animal Industry’s (BAI’s) disclosure. She questioned the timing considering that the article came out a day after Capitol filed its complaint to the Ombudsman.
“A coincidence? Too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence. This is practically thumbing their noses up at the action that we had taken filing a complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman. They are in a blatant display of arrogance,” the governor said, adding their action shows their utter disregard of authority.
“Actually, now, shall we say (they’re) telling us, “we’re not scared of the Ombudsman. We can do what we want and we have timed this declaration right after you filed it in the Office of the Ombudsman.” If that is not arrogance, I don’t know what is. They really feel that they are above everyone and perhaps even above the law,” Gov. Gwen said.
“They continue to widdle us, to widdle the Ombudsman that we can do what we want,” she further said.
Former Capitol Legal Officer Atty. Martino Martinquilla said with the malicious statement and actions of the BAI, Capitol will be pursuing another batch of criminal and administrative cases against them.
“Kun sige pa sila, then di mi moundang pa- file og kaso nila. But this time, amo siguroon that we would be including administrative complaints with prayer for preventive suspension of those officials responsible so that they could be warned and prevented by the Ombudsman from making any untruthful and malicious statements in lieu of the filing of this case,” he said.
“Besides, we will be filing appropriate court actions nga maundang ning ilang pagpanamastasmas sa gahum sa probinsya. Di gyud mi papildi, motusik gyud. Abi na lang nagpalupig ta sa mga mapanamastamason,” Martinquilla added.
Aside from earlier charges filed against BAI officials, the Province is readying administrative and criminal charges for “unjust vexation.”
Lawyers cited Article III of the Bill of the Rights of the 1987 Philippine Constitution stating “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.”
Lawyer Rory Jon Sepulveda said the culling policy imposed by the BAI is clearly causing unjust vexation to the P11 billion hog industry in Cebu.
“Let us be clear about this. This is not purely or principally of personalities or of even opinions on how to address this issue. For us, what is primary is the constitutional declaration of local autonomy and decentralization and the enforcement of that constitutional mandate by the local government code,” Sepulveda said.
Sepulveda also warned that the Province is not backing down on its position on its no culling policy and other bio-security measures now in place saying, “If there are other LGUs that may shirk on this on this responsibility or authority, NOT the Province of Cebu. We have proven that. We have locked horns, sungay, sa adtong karaang task force created by a presidential order on the Covid-19 pandemic.”
“This province, this governor will not shirk on this responsibility,” he said while telling the BAI that the Capitol is bent on exercising its legal right.
“And sa inyong pagpakita nga wala moy respetar, amo lang pud isukli unya ang inyong walay respeto sa Konstitusyon ug sa Local Government Code,” the lawyer said.
LOCAL AUTONOMY
“Back off. Do not meddle with our position which our own provincial veterinarian has adopted belonging as she does to the Cebu Provincial Government,” the governor said to statements of veterinary associations calling for Dr. Vincoy to get investigated.
“Let us be very clear about that, whether you’d be a national or an international association, you cannot infringe upon a local government’s territorial powers as very expressly contained in the local government code,” the governor said.
The Philippine Veterinary Medical Association has released a statement supporting these BAI officials in the charges they are facing; while the Philippine College of Swine Practitioners, in a statement of their own, insists that hog culling is still the most effective method to combat ASF, and even lobbied for “special import permits” for ASF vaccines.
“Let us be very clear about that. Whether you’d be a national or an international association, you cannot infringe upon a local government unit’s territorial powers, as very expressly contained in the Local Government Code,” Gov. Gwen said.
The governor has remained firm that the “no culling, no color coding” policy remains in effect in the province. She reminded all the mayors, the police, and other stakeholders to ensure that this order is implemented by apprehending those who would continually do indiscriminate testing of hogs even if they do not display symptoms of any kind.
While BAI and the veterinarian’s association keep on referring to departmental orders in handling the ASF, Capitol lawyers said that these are not the law of the land, but internal regulatory measures that should not be imposed on LGUs.
The lawyers added that with the passage of RA 7160 in 1991, the functions and powers of national line agencies have been transferred to the local government units, including the “approval of measures and adopting quarantine regulations to prevent the introduction and spread of diseases within its territorial jurisdiction” (Sec. 468, no. 5, v).
The Cebu Provincial Capitol is the first LGU in the entire country to question and suspend the ineffective methods of BAI in handling swine diseases, which included culling even healthy hogs within the 500-meter radius of a detected ASF case, thereby effectively crippling the local hog industry and further justifying the need for more pork importation.
Gov. Garcia is establishing a laboratory, in partnership with Prime Care, that will empower veterinarians at the LGU level to conduct tests on hogs that show symptoms and determine whether or not these are afflicted with ASF or just the ordinary hog cholera.
She is also mobilizing barangay officials and barangay volunteer workers to go even down to the purok levels, monitor the local hog situation, and report cases to the local veterinarian for appropriate measures in what she has called the Barangay Swine Fever Task Force. | Ioannes P. Arong/Carlo Lorenciana/Vanessa Almeda