ANTIQUE – This province strengthened its restrictions against the possible entry of African Swine Fever (ASF).
Dated Oct. 18, 2022, Gov. Rhodora Cadiao’s Executive Order No. 229 prohibits the entry, for whatever purposes or trading, of any pig, boar semen, pork, and pork by-products from any areas affected by ASF.
Antique was the last province in Western Visayas to enforce border controls after the region’s first confirmed cases of ASF broke out in Oton, Iloilo last week.
Negros Occidental, including Bacolod City; Aklan; Capiz; Guimaras; and Iloilo City already imposed restrictions earlier.
The province has also created an Antique African Swine Fever Crisis Management Task Force (AASFCMTF) through a separate EO.
The lady governor ordered the taskforce to conduct 24/7 veterinary quarantine checkpoints in all entry and exit points in the province.
They are authorized to open and check suspected luggage of all vehicles and transporters entering the province. No transporter will be permitted entry if they will not allow the veterinary personnel to inspect their baggage.
All livestock and poultry transporters are advised to use the Anini-y route in the south and the Nabas-Pandan route in the north. This will facilitate the easy transfer of swine into another vehicle at the provincial borders.
Nighttime (6 p.m. to 6 a.m.) shipments are not allowed and disinfection of transport carriers will be done at the checkpoint.
Moreover, the Provincial Veterinary Office (ProVet) will continue to conduct surveillance in various markets, grocery stores, and meat shops in the province. They will also monitor online selling.
Those violating the EO will have their items confiscated and disposed of properly, and they will be fined not less than P1,000 but not exceeding P5,000, or imprisonment for not less than six months but not exceeding one year, or both in the discretion of the court.
The taskforce encouraged all Antiqueños to support and follow regulations to protect the swine industry in the province.
If ever the ASF virus enters the province, all hogs within a 0.5-kilometer radius will be electrocuted and burned.
Based on the Western Visayas Hog Situationer of the Department of Agriculture (DA) Region 6, as of July 1, 2022, Antique has a swine population of 76,079, which comprises 6.52 percent of the 1,166,400 hog heads in the region. (With a report from PIO Barcebal)/PN
