By Rene V. Carbayas
ISABELA CITY, Basilan – Efforts
to contain the spread of cocolisap in other areas of Basilan and nearby cities
and provinces are gaining ground with the recent training of plant quarantine
inspectors.
Some 40 participants coming from the
municipalities of Ungkaya Pukan, Tuburan, Lantawan, Sumisip, Maluso and the
cities of Lamitan and Isabela have committed to help the Philippine Coconut
Authority (PCA) in curbing the spread of the Coconut Scale Insect (CSI) also
known locally as cocolisap.
Onesima Hayawan of PCA-Basilan said the
participants underwent a training and deputation as plant quarantine inspectors
to regulate and prevent the spread of scale insect in Zamboanga and Basilan.
Benito S. Mendoza, OIC-Plant Quarantine
Service Region IX said that inspectors must first know plant quarantine system
and orders to effectively function as such.
Mendoza, together with other members of the
PQS of the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) under the Department of Agriculture,
namely Arne B. Senon and Lorena T. Cabatingan have explained the role of
deputized PQ (plant quarantine) Inspectors duties and responsibilities.
BPI Special Quarantine Order No. 1, Series of
2014 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) have been promulgated to
address the infestation of CSI in outbreak areas of coconuts in some
municipalities and cities of Batangas, Cavite, Laguna and Quezon. With the
outbreak of cocolisap in Basilan, the same special order was applied.
The Quarantine Order and IRR for other crops infested
by scale insects, “Declaring Severe Infestation of Aspidiotus spp. and Unaspis
sp. in Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana) and Lanzones (Lansium domesticum),
respectively, Including Other Scale Insects Affecting Other Plants In the
Coconut Scale Insect (CSI) Outbreak Areas of Batangas, Cavite, Laguna and
Quezon and Providing Measures To Manage Its Spread From Infested to Non
Infested Areas” incudes that in the CSI outbreak areas some economically
important crops such as mangosteen and lanzones have been likewise reported to
be heavily infested by Aspidiotus spp. and Unaspis sp., respectively, with a
combined infestation of more than half a million trees in 2014.
Other crops such as banana, avocado,
breadfruit, mango, sugarcane, many palm species, guava, papaya and other plants
have been, in the absence of an official validated data, likewise reported to be infested by other
pests including but not limited to other scale insects and mealybugs.
Challenged with the magnitude of infestation
and its negative impact on local economy and food security, the BPI declared
that official measures should be adopted to check, control and manage the
increase and spread of these injurious pests, and the BPI–PQS is tasked to
conduct the necessary quarantine measures to prevent the spread of these pests.
With the open coastal lines of the island
province of Basilan and very few BPI-PQS personnel in the region, the PCA and
BPI saw the need to train more volunteer PQ inspectors primarily to regulate
and control the exit of plant hosts and other potential carriers of cocolisap
from infested to non-infested areas.
However, the BPI-PQS said that the movement,
transfer and carrying of plants, planting materials and any other parts of
mangosteen and lanzones including other plants that may be affected shall be
allowed by the BPI Director or his duly authorized representatives provided
there is an on-site inspection by a Plant Quarantine Officer (PQO) and/or any
BPI deputized personnel of the concerned DENR, PQS, Local Government Units
(LGUs) and RFO. Such shipment must be
accompanied by a Domestic Permit to Transport (BPI "Q" Form No. 12).
The permit should be presented for verification purposes to the duly deputized
plant quarantine inspectors in all checkpoints where the commodity shall pass.
Executive Order No. 169 of 2014 (Establishing
emergency measures to control and manage the spread and damage of Aspidiotus Rigidus
in the Philippines and designating the Philippine Coconut Authority as the lead
agency for the purpose) states that the BPI may deputize PCA and the PNP, and
other law enforcement offices to investigate and apprehend those caught
violating the emergency and quarantine measures, including the confiscation of
unprocessed/untreated parts of coconut, coco seedlings and seednuts, and other
host/vector plants.
