By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO) is on high alert after the Department of Health (DOH) declared a bird flu outbreak in Luzon.
In a radio interview over the weekend, PVO head, Dr. Renante Decena, said the provincial government has already set needed measures in order to ensure chickens or other poultry products being supplied to the province are not infected with avian influenza.
Decena noted, quarantine stations have also been set up at the various seaports across the province, as well as the airport, in order to stop the virus from spreading.
District veterinarians in the province are also regularly conducting rounds at various poultry and gamefowl farms in Negros Occidental to check for signs of the virus.
As for the supply of poultry meat, Decena assured consumers there is enough in Negros Occidental, even after the Department of Agriculture (DA) declared a ban of shipments in Luzon.
Decena cited a surplus of dressed chicken in the province, pointing out Negros Occidental currently has a native chicken population of seven million.
There are also 1.5 million broiler chickens being produced by local farms every month.
Earlier, the DA said around 200,000 chickens, ducks, and quails will be culled, or killed, in Pampanga, after the town of San Luis reported a case of avian influenza.
Several other towns in a seven-kilometer radius of San Luis were also placed under quarantine./WDJ