The Department of Agriculture (DA) has declared Batangas free from avian influenza.
Its status was formalized under Memorandum Circular 23 signed by senior undersecretary Domingo Panganiban on June 16.
Batangas reported a single case of highly pathogenic avian influenza subtype H5N1 later confirmed through laboratory testing in December affecting chicken and ducks.
Upon detection, the provincial government of Batangas and the municipality of Ibaan, in coordination with DA regional field office Calabarzon and the Bureau of Animal Industry, conducted an immediate depopulation, cleaning and disinfection, movement restrictions and surveillance in the affected premises following avian influenza protection program guidelines.
Continued disease monitoring and surveillance of the affected farms showed negative test results for the influenza type A virus for more than 90 days.
Prior to Batangas, the DA also declared Ilocos Sur, Rizal province, Quezon province and South Cotabato as avian influenza free earlier this year.
Batangas produced 61,745,779 heads of chicken equal to 5.2 percent of the 1,196,972,262 slaughtered chicken heads for the period.
The province provided 9,962 slaughtered duck heads in 2022 or 0.07 percent of the total 13,662,813 for the year.
