The Committee on Agriculture of the Palawan Provincial Board is seeking a new approach against the mango pulp weevil after its chair said Palawan appeared to be losing its 40-year fight against the pest.
Board Member Rafael Ortega Jr. said the mango pulp weevil had not been eradicated despite decades of programs by the Department of Agriculture (DA), Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) and local governments. The pest has also reached Roxas, a municipality that earlier control measures were supposed to protect.
“Forty years na ang battle natin. Mukhang natalo tayo dahil sobrang haba ng giyera natin sa mango pulp weevil at hindi natin napaalis o napatay at hindi totally na-eradicate. Ibig sabihin, natalo tayo o natatalo talaga tayo sa ating giyera laban sa mango pulp weevil,” he said in an interview on September 8 following the committee hearing.
Ortega did not blame the DA, BPI or quarantine personnel for the continued problem.
Instead, he said the government should review earlier programs and develop a new approach supported by scientific research.
“Siguro the best time to start is now. Let us formulate a new innovation, a new approach on how to fight against mango pulp weevil,” he said.
He asked the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA), BPI, and DA to work together on a new program to control and eventually eradicate the pest.
Ortega said practices that had shown results could still be retained, but these should be supported by research on the pest’s biology, anatomy and life cycle.
“Kinakailangan natin ang scientific study talaga to support, kasi napakarami nating magagaling na entomologists na makaka-support sa pag-aaral ng biology and anatomy ng nasabing insekto,” he said.
He proposed creating a task force led by the OPA, with technical support from the BPI, DA, research institutions, and entomologists.
The agencies were asked to prepare a technical document that could become the basis for a provincial resolution, ordinance, and funding program.
Contained outside Palawan, persistent within
Christopher Cruz of the BPI said the agency had resumed surveillance after he began gathering available data on the pest in January 2025.
He said the BPI’s main responsibility has been containment through quarantine. The government has prevented the mango pulp weevil from becoming established outside Palawan, but it has not eliminated the pest from affected areas within the province.
“So, babagal lang po yung movement niya, kaso lang persistent po siya sa isang area,” Cruz said.
Cruz said previous studies had produced protocols for controlling the weevil, but the results depended on implementation and cooperation on the ground.
His assessment was that the country had succeeded in preventing the pest from leaving Palawan. Within the province, however, the continued presence and movement of the pest showed that the campaign had not succeeded.
Committee members sought an updated map identifying municipalities and barangays with confirmed infestation.
The map could help the government determine which communities must remain under strict control, which areas should be protected and whether pest-free production zones could be recognized.
Participants discussed protecting unaffected areas before concentrating eradication and control measures in places with higher infestation.
The committee also raised concerns about the enforcement of rules covering the movement of mangoes from southern Palawan to the northern municipalities.
Existing provincial measures requiring mango inspections were described during the hearing as outdated. Ortega asked the OPA and Provincial Legal Office to study whether a new ordinance could impose clearer inspection requirements and penalties.
The rules should prevent the transport of infested fruit without blocking mangoes from areas that may be certified as pest-free.
Scientific research, processing proposed
Board Member Jake Tan called for the involvement of entomologists, the Department of Science and Technology, and other government experts.
Tan compared the proposal with scientific methods used to suppress mosquitoes that transmit dengue. He said researchers should study the insect itself instead of relying only on quarantine and existing farm practices.
“Suggest ko lang naman, kung pwede tayo makipag-tulungan kung sino yung tamang agency para mag-research mismo sa insektong yan, para at least hindi lang natin ma-contain,” Tan said.
He said funding could be sought for research on the pest and methods that could stop its reproduction.
Edison Bauzon of the Department of Agriculture-Regional Crop Protection Center (DA-RCPC) proposed harvesting immature mangoes and processing them into pectin.
Bauzon said collecting the fruit before the weevil completes its development could interrupt its breeding cycle. The proposal could also provide income to farmers who might otherwise have to destroy their fruit.
“Ang suggestion ko doon, kung pwede sa mga LGU, sila mismo yung mag-buy back para bilhin nila yung raw materials na yun,” Bauzon said.
Under the proposal, fruit could be collected about 50 to 60 days after development and used as raw material for pectin, which is used in jelly and other products.
Bauzon said the program could encourage owners to harvest fruit from unmanaged mango trees if local governments or processors provided a market.
He proposed beginning in areas with low infestation. Barangays would monitor flowering mango trees and report them so the fruit could be collected at the required stage.
Bauzon also discussed research on biological controls and attractants.
He said a fungus known as Metarhizium could infect the weevil, although its effect would depend on how it was applied.
Researchers had also studied mango odors that could attract male weevils to traps. Three promising odors were identified, but Bauzon said the resulting attractant did not succeed under field conditions.
Rebuilding the mango industry
Edgardo Zaballa Jr. of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist said mango production could be rebuilt in northern Palawan while pest-affected areas in southern Palawan undergo rehabilitation.
“Baka pwede nating pagtulungan na itong northern, pwede natin siyang i-repopulate while nire-rehab natin ito southern,” Zaballa said.
He clarified that rebuilding production would not immediately allow Palawan mangoes to be marketed outside the province.
“Hindi siya for marketable outside muna. But technically, we will revive the industry,” he added.
Zaballa said the plan would require the OPA, BPI, and DA to share resources.
Board Member Aris Arzaga raised the temporary cutting of mango trees as a possible way to deprive the pest of its host.
Mango pulp weevil reaches Roxas town as Palawan struggles to contain spread
The proposal would require scientific evidence and a study of its legal, environmental and economic effects. Wild and backyard mango trees would also have to be considered because these could allow the pest to survive.
Board Member Ryan Maminta, meanwhile, questioned whether Palawan still had a mango industry that could be revived.
He also raised whether public funds should first be directed to other programs while the government continued studying how to eradicate the pest.
The questions were raised as the committee considered the cost of a province-wide eradication program and the assistance that would have to be provided to mango farmers.
“We have to answer the first question. Do we have the industry still to revive in Southern Palawan?” he asked.
“Kasi kung sasayangin lang natin without the industry itself in the coming 5-10 years, why invest such public funds to such endeavors?” he asked again.
Ortega said drastic proposals could be examined but should not be treated as approved measures or immediate orders.
“Siguro puwede nating i-explore iyan because desperate times call for desperate measures,” he said.
Any cutting or suspension of mango production would still have to undergo scientific study and consultation with farmers. The government would also have to determine whether affected growers would receive compensation, replacement planting materials or other livelihood support.
Past program, technologies reviewed
Board Member Aris Arzaga also asked agriculture officials to account for an earlier government-funded mango pulp weevil program implemented from around 2007 to 2013.
Arzaga said the program may have received between ₱100 million and ₱200 million from the national government, although the amount still had to be verified.
Agriculture officials told the committee that later fund releases were stopped following complaints and implementation problems.
Arzaga asked the agencies to submit records covering the earlier program’s plan, expenditures, equipment, and vehicles.
He said measures that produced results could be reviewed and used again, while past implementation problems should be identified before the government commits more public money.
The committee also considered X-ray scanning and irradiation as possible ways to allow Palawan mangoes to reach markets outside the province.
X-ray equipment can be used to detect infestation inside a mango. Irradiation does not detect or remove the pest but prevents surviving weevils from reproducing.
During the hearing, the committee was told that mangoes could first be screened through X-ray before undergoing irradiation.
A complete irradiation facility was estimated during the discussion to cost around ₱700 million to ₱800 million. No feasibility study supporting the estimate was presented during the hearing.
Officials were asked to determine the actual cost, possible location, expected fruit supply and markets that would accept irradiated mangoes before seeking funds.
Participants also discussed processing mangoes into puree, dried products and other goods that could be sold without transporting untreated fresh fruit outside the quarantine area.
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) figures cited during the hearing showed that Palawan produced 14,463.16 metric tons of mangoes in 2024 from an estimated 1,477.77 hectares.
The figures showed that mango production continued, although the harvest was consumed within the province and had no access to outside markets.
The committee asked agriculture agencies to determine the number, location and age of mango trees in Palawan. The information could be used to assess whether production could be expanded in northern areas while affected communities in the south undergo control or rehabilitation.
National assistance sought
Ortega said the mango pulp weevil should not be treated only as a Palawan concern because the pest could threaten mango-producing areas elsewhere in the country if it escaped the province.
“Having Palawan as one of the imminent and having a clear and present danger sa mango industry sa buong Pilipinas, kinakailangang tulungan ang Palawan na totally ma-eradicate,” he said.
The committee discussed sending a resolution to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. seeking national assistance for research, facilities and a new control or eradication program.
The OPA, BPI, and DA were asked to submit recommendations for the proposed task force within one to two months.
The plan may include an updated infestation map, pilot communities, farmer assistance, quarantine enforcement, scientific research, processing and the possible use of X-ray and irradiation.
The committee has not yet passed a new ordinance or formally established the task force. These will depend on the technical recommendations to be submitted by the agriculture agencies.
