BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
A joint African Swine Fever (ASF) task force was organized by the provincial government of Negros Occidental and highly urbanized Bacolod City to prevent the entry of live pigs, boar semen and pork products.
This was contained a joint executive order number 1 issued by Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, dated October 14, aimed at harmonizing their respective policies in prohibiting the entry of sources of infection of pigs and pork-related products from places affected by ASF into Negros Occidental and Bacolod City.
A day after the joint executive order was issued, quarantine inspectors intercepted P20,000 worth of pork-related products from Iloilo, which were seized at the BREDCO Port in Bacolod City on Oct. 15 and 16.
It was shipped back to its point of origin, disclosed yesterday by Provincial Veterinarian Dr. Placeda Lemana.
Negros Occidental is banning the entry of live pigs, pork meat and its byproducts from Panay and Guimaras, following the detection of a suspected African Swine Flu, in Oton, Iloilo.
Lemana said the confiscated products included ground pork, pork tocino and pork molo from Iloilo.
“Our quarantine Inspectors are on high alert and are strictly doing the inspection of all arriving goods through our ports and seaports,” Lemana said
The Provincial Veterinary Office quarantine inspectors are being reinforced by a team of inspectors from the city government of Bacolod.
The province of Negros Occidental, a top backyard hog producer in the country, with an industry valued at P6 billion, has managed to remain ASF-free for several years now.
Over the past three years, Negros Occidental also prohibited the entry of live pigs and pork byproducts from Luzon, Mindanao and parts of the Visayas in order to protect the local hog industry.
Lemana assured anew that Negros Occidental has a surplus in terms of pork supply as well as chicken.
“So far, the supply and prices have remained in a stable situation,” she added.*
