BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Negros Occidental remains free from African Swine Fever (ASF), the Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO) assured the public.
Dr. Placida Lemana, acting head of the PVO, also said that while ASF can be transmitted from an infected pig by a mosquito, there will be no adverse effects on humans.
On Oct. 14, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson issued two memorandums banning pigs, pork and pork by-products from Panay and Guimaras islands following the detection of the first cases of ASF in the region in Oton, Iloilo.
Lacson pointed out ASF poses a great threat to Negros Occidental, a major producer – and gateway – of live pigs being supplied to Luzon and Central and Eastern Visayas.
Negros Occidental is one of the top backyard hog producers in the country with an industry pegged at more than P6 billion.
For three years, the province prohibited the entry of live pigs and pork by-products from Luzon, Mindanao and parts of the Visayas to protect the local hog industry.
Meanwhile, the PVO is currently eyeing to collect 446 blood samples from both commercial and backyard hogs as part of its surveillance efforts against the ASF.
As early as September this year, the Department of Agriculture (DA) has ordered all provincial veterinarians in the country to collect blood samples.
Before the order of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., Lemana said local government units already submitted blood samples to the Animal Health Division of the Bureau of Animal Industry, adding that the deadline was only extended.
On Sunday, Oct. 23, Marcos ordered the DA Region 6 to test all pig breeding sites in the region to control the spread of the ASF.
The directive came after the DA-6 reported during a situation briefing in Bacolod City that cases of ASF had been detected in the area, particularly in Iloilo.
The President said testing all breeding farms for ASF is one of the most effective ways of controlling the spread of infection.
He also said that measures to prevent its spread are already in place, including banning pork products from infested areas.
Marcos also noted that one of the challenges in fighting the infection is that ASF has been reported to spread through mosquitoes.
Iloilo, Negros Occidental and the whole Western Visayas region had previously been among the last few areas in the country that had remained ASF-free since the first reported outbreak in July 2019./PN
