MANILA - The Philippines said on Monday it was monitoring bird sanctuaries because of concerns that the seasonal arrival of migratory birds next month might bring avian flu to the country.
The government also said it had ordered tighter surveillance of illegal trading of exotic birds in southern Mindanao island, and their immediate destruction if they came from bird-flu affected countries such as Indonesia.

"The disease has continued to spread in many neighbouring Asian countries. Active infection in migratory birds in Russia and China was also confirmed," Agriculture Secretary Domingo Panganiban said in a statement.
He added that these developments posed a "real threat" because of the Philippines' proximity to bird flu-affected countries and because it lay in the path of migratory birds from northern countries in the winter season.
The statement came as agriculture and forestry officials from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) began a meeting near Manila that is expected to focus on measures to halt the spread of bird flu in the region.
Agriculture ministers from ASEAN, China, South Korea, and Japan are due to attend the talks on Thursday.
The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed 65 people in four Asian nations, including five people in Indonesia, since late 2003 and has been found in birds in Russia and Europe.
Eventually, it is likely to mutate into a form that is easily transmissible between humans, triggering a pandemic that could kill millions and which would play havoc with the global economy.
MIGRATION RISK
Millions of migratory birds arrive in the Philippines in the last three months of the year.
Scientists have said that the virus could spread through migrating geese and other birds.
In July, Manila reported that three ducks on an isolated farm on the periphery of the Candaba swamp, a sanctuary in the northern Philippines frequented by migratory birds, were infected with a weaker strain of bird flu.
Government scientists suspect that the ducks were exposed to a low pathogenic avian influenza virus from migratory birds.
Ruben Pascual, secretary general of a joint government and private sector task force against bird flu, said information campaigns would be held in areas near bird sanctuaries.
Local governments would be asked to keep people and poultry away from migratory birds, he said.
"We will also seek the cooperation of other ASEAN countries, particularly Indonesia and Thailand, not to issue any permit to exporters of exotic birds for pets," Pascual told Reuters
In May, the Philippines culled 500 parrots imported from Indonesia.
The parrots were seized by coastguard officials from a boat en route to Manila from the southern province of Saranggani, near the Philippines' maritime border with Indonesia.
The birds were on their way to Manila for export to Europe.
In February last year, quarantine officials destroyed 350 lovebirds a week before Valentine's Day after they learned that the birds had passed through Bangkok en route from Amsterdam.