Negros Occidental and Bacolod City prohibited the entry of all pigs and pork products from the neighboring Cebu province, including Bantayan and Camotes islands, on Tuesday night, March 7.
The ban, provided in Joint Executive Order (EO) No. 1 signed by Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and Mayor Alfredo Benitez, was enforced after the African swine fever (ASF) virus was detected in Cebu province’s Carcar City.
“Due to this recent development, it is highly imperative to protect the local hog industry of the province, being one of the leading producers of hogs in the country, against the serious threat of ASF,” the officials said in the EO.
A test conducted on March 1 confirmed the detection of ASF on pigs in Carcar, according to the report of the Bureau of Animal Industry-Animal Disease Diagnosis and Reference Laboratory (BAI-ADDRL).
Negros Occidental, which has a P6-billion hog industry, is listed as a dark green zone or ASF-free by the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Aside from Cebu, the total ban on the entry of all live pigs, boar semen, pork, pork products, and other pork-related items to Negros Occidental and Bacolod City includes the entire Luzon, Mindanao, Eastern Visayas, and Panay and Guimaras islands.
On Monday, March 6, Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia ordered a ban on the entry of live hogs, sows, piglets, boar semen, pork, and pork-related products from Negros Island until April 5, 2023.
Dr. Mary Rose Vincoy, Cebu provincial veterinarian, said the investigation showed the blood samples in Carcar “were found to have come from pigs that [co]-mingled with other pigs from Negros while being kept in stockyards.”
However, Negros Occidental provincial administrator Rayfrando Diaz II stressed that his province is ASF-free.
“The evidence is in Carcar. It’s just like blaming others for your mistake. That is a fallacy for me. Unless and until the BAI and the DA issue a certification that Negros is indeed infected with ASF, there’s no reason for impairment or restriction of transportation of basic goods such as this. These are food products,” he told reporters.
Diaz said concerns have already been raised by hog raisers in Negros Occidental who have contracts to supply pigs to buyers in Tacloban City in Eastern Visayas, passing through the ports in Cebu.
“If that is going to be the case, Cebu should consider [the situation] since it involves the food security of other provinces,” he said. (PNA)