BACOLOD City – The Negros Occidental Provincial African Swine Fever (ASF) Task Force further reinforced its animal quarantine checkpoint in the southern part of the province – considered as the usual entry point of cargoes from Mindanao.
The preventive measure imposes the ban on all live pigs and pork products from Mindanao ordered by Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson last month after cases of the deadly pig disease have been reported in Davao Region.
Dr. Renante Decena, provincial veterinarian and task force co-chair, said they have deployed additional veterinary inspectors, specifically in Kabankalan City, to strictly enforce animal quarantine in the south.
The city’s Hilamonan village is one of the identified routes used for the transport of live pigs and pork products into the province from Mindanao.
“The checkpoint in Barangay Hilamonan is fully operational,” Decena said.
Figures of the Provincial Veterinary Office showed that between February 24 and 29, inspectors have seized more than P763,000 worth of pork and pork-related products from hand-carried, checked-in baggage and cargo trucks or containers that arrived in various points of entry in Negros Occidental.
In Hilamonan alone, some P95,783 in banned pork products have been confiscated.
Decena cited the assistance and cooperation of concerned local government units as well as transport companies such as Vallacar Transit Inc., which have also been strictly requiring passengers’ compliance with necessary permits in transporting meat products.
Decena also said human and animal vaccines transported and packed in styro boxes are now required to be pre-inspected at the ASF Task Force headquarters in the PVO building here.
“We do this to avoid damage on vaccines and delay of transport,” he added.
He urged travelers to secure necessary permits and declare any pork products they may bring for inspection.
“This is a form of cooperation with the government efforts in sustaining the status of the province as ASF-free,” Decena said. (With a report from PNA/PN)
