Governor Joseph C. Cua has issued an executive order adopting guidelines of the Avian Influenza Protection Program and creating the Provincial Task Force on Bird Flu.

Under Executive Order No. 12, the governor will be the over-all chairman of the task force, with the provincial veterinarian and the provincial health officer as co-chairs.

They will oversee the various teams which will comprise the task force, including the Rapid Action Team, which will carry out the immediate diagnosis of suspected premises and implementation of stamping-out procedures; Monitoring and Surveillance Team, for the profiling of poultry population and identification of priority areas for surveillance; Quarantine Team, for the implementation of minimum biosecurity measures and regulation or prohibition of animal movement; Census Team, conduct of periodic data identification on poultry population in municipalities; IEC Team, for ensuring adequate public awareness pertaining to bird flu; and other support agencies.

The EO, which amends a 2005 directive on bird flu, provides for a continuous update on all info on bird flu from concerned agencies, mandates open lines of communications and coordinatibe efforts, and adopts all measures as prescribed under the Avian Influenza Protection Program of the Department of Agriculture and Department of Health.