ILOILO City – The provincial government is mulling to declare a state of calamity for the entire province due to African Swine Fever (ASF).
According to Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr., this is one of the options being considered to utilize provincial government funds to extend assistance to affected hog farmers.
The province already met the requirements needed for the declaration of a state of calamity, said Defensor, and among these include the damage in the livestock incurred due to ASF and at least two affected municipalities.
Twenty-three barangays in Oton and two in San Miguel have confirmed cases of ASF.
Iloilo provincial veterinarian, Dr. Darel Tabuada, said in Oton alone, over 600 out of more than 1,000 infected hog heads have already been depopulated while in San Miguel, around 300 infected hogs within the .5-kilometer radius from ground zero are up for disposal.
Another option of the provincial government to help hog farmers is to realign identified available funds through a supplemental budget or wait for the budget next year.
“Now we have identified funds that we can use between now and the end of the year. If not, maybe we can include it in the supplemental budget. If not, next week we will declare a state of calamity so we can use the emergency fund,” said the governor.
Initially, Defensor said the affected hog farmers, per family, may receive P20,000 financial aid and a sack of rice.
But, he added, this may yet change because the provincial government still continues to look for fund sources.
As to the declaration of a state of calamity, Defensor said he will meet with members of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council that will be the one to recommend the declaration and will be approved by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP).
The governor will meet today with the Local Price Coordinating Council to discuss about the pricing of hogs in the province.
He received reports that the price of live hogs has gone down while the retail or meat price remains the same.
Defensor reiterated that hog trading in the province continues as long as necessary guidelines and protocols based on zoning are being followed.
“Gin-una naton ina (zoning), because kon maplastar na ina sa probinsya, trade will continue. Ang ginapangita naton nga mag-regularize na s’ya except nga lain lang ya ang sa red zone. If we are able to regularize that and naga-adjust na ang mga municipalities naton, mapadayon na ang movement sang aton mga pigs and our pork products and that affects the price,” he explained.
On the other hand, according to Tabuada, the province met with San Miguel mayor Marina Gorriceta and the over 300 hog farmers and representative from the Department of Agriculture yesterday at the town’s covered gym and discussed about the concerns of the farmers.
Tabuada said the farmers aired out about their losses in their livelihood, the price of hogs in town and their desire to transport their hogs outside San Miguel but strictly prohibited because the town has been labeled as red zone.
Aside from Barangay San Jose, Tabuada said there are also positive cases recorded in two farms, with 68 and 78 hog population, respectively, in Barangay 15.
He noted that their team has started the depopulation of the affected farms yesterday.
So far, the provincial veterinarian said their focus is the two barangays affected and once the depopulation and disinfection are done, their team will move for more surveillance activities in other areas in town./PN
