• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The local government units of Kabankalan City and Hinobaan in Negros Occidental, have dispatched more personnel to man checkpoints at its borders with Negros Oriental, where cases of African Swine Fever (ASF) have been detected by the Department of Agriculture.
Negros Occidental, which currently remains ASF free, is now surrounded by the islands and provinces of Panay, Guimaras, Cebu and Negros Oriental, where the deadly virus has affected their swine industry.
Mayor Benjie Miranda yesterday said that they established border control checkpoints at the borders of Kabankalan City with Himamaylan City, Ilog, and Cauayan, aside from the existing checkpoint at their border with Mabinay, Negros Oriental.
Sherwin Sapi-an, executive assistant of Mayor Daph Anthony Reliquias, reported that they reinforced their border security personnel in Brgy. Sangke, Hinobaan, which is near their border with Basay, Negros Oriental.
Sapian said they consider their border as the “first line of defense against ASF.”
“Personnel assigned at the border have orders from the mayor to arrest anyone trying to treacherously bring in pork and pork products through the border from Basay town, the last municipality of Negros Oriental,” he said.
While Negros Occidental remains ASF free, the province is confronting serious problems with hog cholera, which has symptoms similar to the highly contagious disease, along with pneumonia and other swine diseases, as the Provincial Veterinarian Office has recently logged 5,252 hog deaths.
The PVO places damage to hog industry at P63.5 million.*
