Tight security in all seaports in Negros Occidental and at the Bacolod-Silay Airport was assured by the Provincial Veterinary Office yesterday, after Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol imposed a ban on the entry of pork and pork products from Japan due to the African Swine Flu (ASF) threat.

Provincial Veterinarian, Dr. Renante Decena, said they already deployed more personnel in seaports in Bacolod, particularly Bredco and Banago, and in Escalante, San Carlos, and Cadiz, and at the Bacolod-Silay Airport, among others.

He said they deployed about seven personnel per port as the Bureau of Animal Industry has not enough staff to monitor these areas to prevent the entry of pork and pork products with ASF virus into the province.

P2.7 million coffee center
to open in La Castellana
BY MAX N. MACAHILO

The P2.7 million cooperative-run coffee processing center in Brgy. Cabacungan, La Castellana, Negros Occidental, the biggest of its category in the Visayas, will start operating this week, and expected to benefit hundreds of farmers in the town.

“It’s a dream come true for us, an honor and a blessing that we were awarded by the government with this processing center,” Cabacungan Integrated Social Forestry Farmers Association (CISFFA) president, Alfredo Sagario, said.