Supplemental Circular Based on the Memorandum Issued by the Executive Secretary on Enhanced Community Quarantine of Luzon, Ensuring Unhampered Movement of All Food and Production Items through Food Lanes

March 17, 2020

DA MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 07-20

 

Pursuant to the Memorandum issued by the Office of the Executive Secretary dated 16 March 2020 with subject "Community Quarantine over the Entire Luzon and Further Guidelines for the Management of the Corona Virus Disease 19 (COVID-19) Situation," declaring an enhanced community quarantine in Luzon, the Department of Agriculture (DA) is hereby implementing a Food Resiliency Protocol to ensure that every Filipino household in Luzon and high dense metropolitan areas will have access to safe and affordable food.

The Food Resiliency Protocol of the DA identifies a list of food items (please see Annex 1. List of Food Items) that must be allowed unhampered and unimpeded transit in all quarantine checkpoints, provided that proper documentation is presented to the authorities for the following:

1. All vehicles carrying crop commodities must be allowed passage.

2. Fishery and other aquatic products with carriers [trucks] must be allowed passage.

3. Live poultry and livestock, including meat and meat products, details are provided under DA Memorandum Circular No. 5 series of 2020, as follows:

3.1. Shipping Permit issued by the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) for transport of live animals, animal products and by-products with accompanying Veterinary Health Certificate (issued by licensed Veterinarians).

3.2. Shipping Permit issued by BAI for transport of meat (fresh or frozen) with accompanying Meat Inspection Certificate (MIC) for fresh locally sourced meat and Certificate of Meat Inspection (COMI) for imported meat as issued by the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS).

4. Farm inputs (please see Annex 2. List of Identified Farm Inputs), are also included to ensure continuous and sustainable production of the above mentioned food items. Movement of products and services related therein is requested to all unhampered passage on designated quarantine checkpoints.

The above mentioned commodities are hereby requested proper assistance at the designated quarantine checkpoints to ensure that our people will have access to safe and affordable food items in the market.

In addition, all relevant DA personnel bearing proper mission orders and identifications are requested to be provided proper facilitation in the designated quarantine checkpoints to ensure they are able to perform their operative duties relevant to the objectives of the Food Resiliency Protocol.

Lastly, essential farm personnel that works at the production area bearing proper documentation are also requested to be accorded passage at the quarantine checkpoints. This will include veterinarians, farm hands, and other farm and fisher folks.

(SGD.) WILLIAM D. DAR, Ph.D.Agriculture Secretary

ANNEX 1

List of Food Commodities

1. Rice

2. Brown sugar and refined sugar

3. All fruits including coconut

4. All vegetables and spices

5. Fish and all aquatic produce (fresh, frozen, chilled and dried)

6. Live hogs and poultry

7. All live carabao, cattle, goat and sheep

8. All eggs (fresh, salted, and balut)

9. Milk and all dairy products

10. All meat (fresh, frozen, chilled)

11. All meat products (semi-processed like tocino, longanisa, tapa, etc. and fully processed like hotdog, and ham)

12. All canned food products

13. Cooking oil (all forms such as vegetable and coconut oil)

ANNEX 2

List of Farm Inputs

Farm inputs are all items/commodities that are necessary to support the production of rice, crops/vegetables; fisheries and other aquatic products; and livestock, poultry and milk, including necessary farm implements to support production and processing operations, to wit:

1. Livestock and Poultry

a. Production

i. Day-old chicks (DOC)

ii. Breeder pigs (boars and replacement gilts)

iii. Semen and semen straw

b. Feed and feed ingredients

i. Corn

ii. Soya

iii. Flour

iv. Rice bran

v. Wheat

vi. Capra meal

vii. All pre-mixes (to include enzymes, probiotics)

viii. Cooking oil (including used cooking oils)

c. Veterinary medicines and biologics

i. Vaccines for poultry and all livestock

ii. Vitamins and mineral supplements

iii. Test kits and reagents for animals and poultry diseases

d. Operations of Farm and Meat Processing Plants to ensure hygiene and food safety

i. Disinfectants

ii. Chlorines

iii. Farm machineries

iv. Machineries for cold storages and meat processing plants

2. Fishery and aquatic production

a. Fry or fingerlings

b. Feeds

c. Fertilizers

3. Rice, crops and vegetable production

a. Seedlings

b. Fertilizers

c. Pesticides

d. Herbicides

e. Irrigation equipment

f. Farm machineries

g. Mill supplies and machineries