Fake news on African Swine Flu

IN case you’re are not aware, there is a domino effect on the local economy being caused by the fake news about the African Swine Flu.

Start with our situation. Households continue to resist eating  pork. Why? Obviously because the ASF scare is still talked about without clarifying its implications. Remember the Dengvaxia scare that led to parents resisting to have their children vaccinated by any vaccine at all? It’s the same situation. Baseless fears thrive because of fake news about Dengvaxia then, and now ASF.

Let’s clarify.  Here’s what media isn’t telling what doctors and veterinarians know:

1. The ASF is mainly an economic issue to protect the swine industry from being wiped out. The ASF is a disease that only afflicts swine. Not human beings. People can’t get sick of ASF. 

2. What happens to a person if he accidentally ate pork from a slaughtered pig that was infected with ASF? NONE. What’s the worst case? The person becomes a carrier of the ASF if the meat was not cooked well or the person touched his waste and didn’t wash his hands. Then again, as a carrier, the person can only infect a pig, not another person.

But the fear of consuming pork leads yet to another complication.

By refusing to consume pork, it is prompting prices of other products, i.e., beef and chicken, to rise abnormally. All because it’s the supply and demand principle at work. The higher demand for beef or chicken, the trader must seek to supply more with higher prices. And if the slump in the demand for pork continues, hog raisers will begin to lose in their investments and prices will eventually have to rise to cover their losses .

 To stop the domino effect, resume eating pork to normalize our economy!  It’s also safe!

Command Responsibility

IF it’s any consolation, the resignation of Lt. Gen. Ronnie Evangelista as chief of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) had created some positive impact on the institution in particular and in the armed forces command in general.  By leaving his post, he restored the faith of the people that, indeed, there are still men in uniform who still adhere strictly to the time-revered tradition of command responsibility.  Evangelista, in leaving the hallowed grounds of the PMA, heroically absorbed the blame on the death of Cadet Darwin Dormitorio, who, undoubtedly, fell victim to hazing at the hands of at least four of his upperclassmen. If only the rest in the bureaucracy could follow the example of Evangelista, this country would achieve greatness in no time. 

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