BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson is yet to receive a reply from Cebu governor Gwendolyn Garcia over his request to lift the entry ban on pork and pork products from Negros.
Lacson sent a letter to Garcia last week to allow shipments of pork and pork products bound for Eastern Visayas to pass through Cebu province.
Lacson suggested sending shipments to Manila but local hog raisers refused due to the low pork pricing in the nation’s capital region.
The Cebu governor issued an executive order implementing a temporary ban on the entry of live hogs, sows, piglets, boar semen, pork, and pork-related products from Negros Island from March 6 to April 5, 2023. The order came after African Swine Fever (ASF) was detected in Carcar City, Cebu.
The ASF-positive swine allegedly mingled with those from Negros Island but both the Occidental and Oriental provinces remain ASF-free.
“Based on the report of the Department of Agriculture, out of the 149 blood samples taken in Carcar City, 58 turned out positive (for ASF). It means that in their locality, there is already ASF,” said acting Negros Occidental veterinarian, Dr. Placeda Lemana.
Carcar City was placed in a state of calamity on Monday.
Lacson and Bacolod City mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez issued a joint executive order on March 7 prohibiting the entry of pork products from Cebu province, including the Bantayan and Camotes islands.
Canned goods were exempted as most of Negros’ imports originated from Cebu.
Negros Occidental is one of the top backyard hog producers in the country, with an industry pegged at more than P6 billion./PN
