Negros Occidental: Fighting the Bird Flu Scare and Saving the Poultry Industry

After SARS, people became fearful about the bird flu epidemic. Although it is not as deadly as SARS for humans, nevertheless people were still alarmed and became cautious with eating fowls, especially chicken.

Just about the time last year when the country was busy preparing for the arrival of the international delegations for the 23^rd Southeast Asian Games, a text message scare went around and alarmed especially the Negrenses. The message warned that some bird-flu infected migratory birds landed at Escalante City and thus infected local poultry. People were advised not to eat chicken and other fowls. In a day's time, the message was circulated probably more than a million times.

Being a province of chicken eaters, this message not only curbed everyone's appetite to their beloved poultry, but the province's poultry industry was on the verge of collapse. Five days after the text message caught wide attention, the Negros Occidental poultry industry already lost approximately P25 million pesos in chicken sales, or roughly P5 million daily. The freezers were getting piled up with unsold chicken though prices were already dropped. And all these were happening only a few days before the foreign delegations were set to arrive.

The provincial government immediately got to the bottom of the situation. Gov. Joseph Marañon ordered the organization of the bird flu task force under the supervision of provincial veterinarian, Dr. Renante Decena, DVM. As it turned out, the text scare was merely that-a scare. Nobody could really point to the source of the text message. Some sectors said that the motive was political or simply jealousy, because of all places, Bacolod had its leg of the SEA Games. But whatever the reason, the harm has already been done.

All media venues were informed of this development and a massive information campaign to contradict the text scare was endeavored. The government also organized educational drives to so that the people will know more about the bird flu virus, its effects, how to avoid it, how to prevent its spread, and the first aid measures. LGUs and private sectors convened in order to straighten things out. The provincial economy lost millions of pesos because of one text message and more millions just to counteract the bad publicity.

But it was a difficult road. People were afraid. They don't want to risk the safety of their families. Yet something had to be done to save the province's poultry industry.

The Negros Occidental provincial government then ingeniously thought of a chicken festival. In a few days' time, the restaurants and fast food joints selling the most chicken products in Bacolod City were organized to hold a chicken eating spree at the provincial capitol. The call was heeded by local restaurants like Jo's Chicken Inato, Chicken Deli, Chicken Haus, and some members of the Manokan Country, all of which are the biggest names in Bacolod chicken inasal. National franchise bigwigs serving fried chicken like Jollibee, KFC, and McDonald's also united for this effort. The festival was also backed by poultry distributors Vitarich, San Miguel Corporation, Bounty Ventures, and Swift.

At a short notice, the Chicken Festival was graced by no less than Gov. Marañon and a number of mayors from different LGUS, and some barangay officials. Members of the tri-media were present. Some private citizens also attended the event. The governor signed the resolution for the formation of the anti bird flu task force, which will vigilantly function in making sure that the province remain bird-flu free.

After the signing, the governor along with some mayors ceremonially ate of the different chicken offerings from the sponsors present. Then the food was distributed to guests, the media, capitol employees, and some residents who were there to witness the event. Everybody enjoyed the meals and had a great time. As expected, nobody was reported ill afterwards.

This media event was instrumental in restoring the people's trust in the government and the poultry industry. Gradually, the people started buying chicken once more. Dr. Decena lamented that people do not seem to trust the government anymore. One text message was enough to make people believe but they had a hard time back tracking the damages that this had caused.

Now, the province enjoys chicken like it once had. When afternoon sets in, the air is filled with aroma of chicken inasal and the fast food chains are filled with people filing up for fried chicken meals. Everything is back to normal and the memory of the text message and it is catastrophic effects have now blurred. Thanks to God's mercy and the wisdom He gave our government leaders, the people of Negros can now enjoy their chicken favorites with no holds barred.