By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson called on other local government units (LGUs) to step up its biosecurity measures against the entry of African swine fever (ASF) in the province.

Lacson said the LGUs must be vigilant as sellers and traders will always find ways to slip their products to make money.

“That memo I issued is a reminder lang na we are being challenged every day, we need to take care of ourselves,” Lacson said.

This comes after the Cadiz City Veterinary Office (CVO) intercepted 20 kilos of pork chorizo from Cebu recently.

It was found that the seller managed to illegally ship the pork products through Escalante City port.

Lacson said it was good that the Cadiz City vets were able to intercept the shipment.

He added that the Escalante LGU is aware of the incident and have already pledged that they will tighten their biosecurity measures at their seaport.

Earlier, Cadiz CVO head, Dr. Josue Rabang said the interception was conducted upon receiving information that a local online seller was allegedly selling chorizo from Cebu province.

According to Rabang, even if the seller has pertinent documents for the processed meat products, they would still confiscate the items.

An existing executive order from the provincial government bans the entry of pork products from areas with ASF cases, including Cebu.

The seized processed meat products were destroyed, while the seller was not held by authorities as there are no penalties under the executive order.

However, Rabang said the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Cadiz is working on an ordinance imposing sanctions and penalties.

In the meantime, Rabang said they will begin conducting border controls to prevent the entry of pork products from areas with ASF cases./DGB, WDJ