By MERLINDA A. PEDROSA
Bacolod City Mayor Greg Gasataya has activated the local government’s African swine fever (ASF) task force to safeguard the city’s swine industry following confirmed cases of the hog disease in Negros Occidental.
“There is a need to reinforce mechanisms for inspection, quarantine, transport regulation, and border control to prevent the entry and movement of ASF-infected hogs, pork, pork products, and related commodities into the city,” Gasataya said in his Executive Order (EO) No. 43 issued on Monday, June 22.
Under the EO, the ASF task force is set to formulate a contingency plan and control measures against ASF as well as conduct investigations and institute control protocols in suspected affected areas.
They are ordered to ensure the implementation of ASF prevention and control measures, as well as quarantine protocols.
The group will also conduct a massive information and awareness campaign for all stakeholders on ASF outbreak and the needed interventions to reduce expected adverse impact.
The task force will implement stringent import policies and border control to prevent the entry of infected live pigs or pork products into Bacolod.
City Administrator Mark Steven Mayo earlier clarified that there have been no reported swine deaths in Bacolod, despite confirmed cases of hog cholera and ASF in Negros Occidental.
Mayo said there is no immediate cause for concern “that would require immediate action” by the city government.
He said he met with De la Torre and discussed the confirmed cases of hog cholera and an isolated incident of ASF in Negros Occidental.
“After our meeting, we discussed it with the mayor, and he immediately issued an EO as part of our preparations in anticipation of the possible ASF case in the province,” he added.
Mayo disclosed that they will start with the information dissemination campaign for the backyard hog raisers.
ASF is a highly contagious hemorrhagic viral disease affecting domestic and wild pigs, characterized by high morbidity and mortality rates, causing severe economic losses to the swine industry, although it poses no risk to human health./MAP, WDJ