Make LGUs accountable for ASF

THE irresponsible and unscrupulous action of hog trader Roger Erpelo that led to the first case of African Swine Fever infection of hogs in Mapandan town resulted in losses of thousands worth of investments of families in backyard hog-raising. It was clearly a case of  reckless opportunism in the belief that he won’t be caught.

In fact, the many who violate our laws to this day are of the same mind, “I won’t be caught” only because they think of government is inefficient and can be bought for special concessions since there is no accountability in government.

That a second infection was reported in Bayambang can only point to another attempt by a trader or transport owner at reckless opportunism. 

Can Pangasinan afford a third one? There will be a fourth and fifth unless the provincial government adopts drastic measures to counter attempts at reckless opportunism risking the local hog industry.  

A drastic measure that will help the situation is to make mayors, barangay chairmen and municipal agriculturists directly accountable for any new ASF infection in their localities. The penalty should be an urgent recommendation for their 30-day suspension without pay to the Department of Interior and Local Government for dereliction and neglect of duty.

In this situation, Executive Orders and checkpoints can only be effective with accountability.

Albayalde’s case

THE public generally sees Philippine police chief Oscar Albayalde guilty as charged.  That’s the price an accused public official has to pay once he gets grilled in a Senate probe.  Albayalde has been linked to a flawed police drug case in 2013 that supposedly saw him receive “a little amount of money” from his subordinates gone wrong.  That had yet to be proven in court even as the Department of Justice seemed set to file criminal charges against Albayalde, who resigned to protect “the integrity of the police organization.” He quit ahead of his retirement in November.  If convicted, his million-peso benefits will be forfeited.  Given our turtle-pace grind of justice, it will take some time before Albayalde’s fate is resolved.  And if he should be acquitted in the end, don’t be surprised.  In this country, no big fish has ever been sent to jail. Bong Revilla is one recent screaming example.

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