Piñol justifies overreaction to bird flu outbreak

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol on Monday defended the government’s response to the bird flu outbreak, saying it was better to be accused of “overreacting” than to allow the disease to spread.

“On the day I was told of the outbreak, I made the decision to ban the shipment from the zone because, at that time, we were in the dark as to how far the virus has spread,” Piñol said during the Senate finance committee hearing on the 2018 budget of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

“I would rather be accused of overreacting than allowing the disease to spread,” he said.

Piñol said he was aware of rumors implying that there wasn’t a bird flu crisis in the first place.

On Saturday, the Cabinet official declared the bird flu crisis was over.

The DA also lifted the ban on shipments of poultry and poultry products in and out of the seven-kilometer avian influenza control zone.


On August 11, Piñol revealed a bird flu outbreak from a quail farm in San Luis, Pampanga. The avian influenza strain was later found to be H5N6 and transmissible to humans. 

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol on Friday revealed a bird flu outbreak from a poultry farm in Barangay San Agustin in San Luis, Pampanga.

The DA ordered all fowls within the one-kilometer quarantine radius culled, which was completed on August 24.

During the budget hearing, Senator Cynthia Villar said she thinks there was an “overreaction.”

“Kasi, when I was young, that was our business, poultry farm. Palagi kami tinatamaan ng avian flu. Kami lang nag-a-ano sa farm eh. In fact, hindi kina-cull buong farm, 'yung mga bahay lang tinatamaan,” Villar said.

Piñol said the DA has strengthened its monitoring and surveillance, and directed all regional directors to conduct sampling in all farms all over the country to allay the fears of the public at large.

“Next week, we'll invite stakeholders. We will review what happened so we will learn our lesson. Tama ba yung protocol?” he said. — VDS, GMA News