• CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
The Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod is requesting the City Veterinary Office to conduct intensified testing and monitoring of live hogs within the jurisdiction of Bacolod City to curtail the spread of African Swine Fever (ASF).
The resolution authored by Councilor Claudio Puentevella said that on May 26, Bacolod City logged the first two swine fever cases within its territorial jurisdiction.
Intensified testing of live hogs among hog breeders and hog raisers will help curtail and prevent the spread of ASF within the City of Bacolod and protect the pork industry of the city, it said.
Meanwhile, the SP also passed a resolution yesterday requesting the City Veterinary Office, through Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, to intensify border inspections of inbound pork products and live hogs within the jurisdiction of Bacolod City, also to curtail the spread of ASF.
The resolution authored by Puentevella said African Swine Fever is a highly contagious viral disease of domestic and wild pigs, whose mortality rate can reach 100 percent.
The ASF virus is a large, double-stranded DNA virus in the Asfarviridae family. It is the causative agent of African swine fever. The virus causes a hemorrhagic fever with high mortality rates in domestic pigs, it said.
So, intensified border inspection of inbound pork products and live hogs can control and prevent the spread and transmission of ASF within Bacolod City in order to protect the city’s pork industry, the resolution added.*
