By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
There are only six remaining hogs in Negros Occidental’s San Enrique town, down from 21 reported earlier this week, after hog cholera and other swine diseases ravaged the locality’s entire hog population.
Mayor Jilson Tubillara said yesterday he has yet to declare the town under a state of calamity, despite recording a large number of hog mortalities.
He said a local government unit could only be under a state of calamity if swine deaths reached 15 percent of the town’s total hog population.
As of Sunday, June 11, data from the Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO) showed that 99.22 percent of the 2,692 total hog population in San Enrique have died of various hog diseases, with only 21 hogs remaining.
Tubillara said local consumers are now buying pork somewhere else.
He said while its swine industry is already hard hit, the locals have other sources of livelihood, particularly fishing.
He added that they also have existing insurance coverage for affected hog raisers. However, it only covers swine mortalities due to African swine fever (ASF).
The mayor also voiced suspicions with what caused hog mortalities in the town, as several hog raisers claimed that their pigs were vaccinated against hog cholera.
Meanwhile, Negros Occidental provincial administrator Atty. Rayfrando Diaz said yesterday morning that several hog blood samples tested at the PVO laboratory in Bacolod City’s Panaad Park, are positive for ASF.
However, Diaz did not divulge where the samples came from.
They have sent the samples to the Bureau of Animal Industry in Metro Manila for confirmatory tests.
He said the provincial government’s veterinary laboratory can only be used for surveillance purposes.
Diaz added that biosecurity protocols will be enforced, such as locking down farms that have positive hog cholera or suspected ASF cases, and placing them under monitoring.
He revealed that among the projects that could help the affected hog raisers, for the meantime, are alternative livelihoods such as free-range chicken breeding.
The province has already allocated more than P10 million financial fund for hog raisers through the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
According to Diaz, he has already coordinated with the Department of Agriculture for financial aid, but for now, the funds are not yet available.
The assistance will come from the local government.
Diaz said Negros Occidental has yet to reach the threshold for the declaration of a state of calamity./DGB, WDJ