- GILBERT BAYORAN
The Provincial Veterinary Office reported yesterday that P104,143 worth of pork related products from areas where African Swine Fever had been detected, were confiscated and burned after entering the ports and airport in Negros Occidental, from Nov. 14 to 20.
This is in addition to the 128.12 kilos of pork related products, with a market value of P167,671, confiscated and destroyed by the Joint ASF Task Force of the provincial government and highly urbanized Bacolod City, in past weeks.
ASF cases were detected in six towns of Iloilo, including New Lucena, Oton, San Miguel, Leganes, Alimodian, and Santa Barbara.
But ASF cases were reported to have been declining in Oton, the first town in Iloilo to record the dreaded hog disease.
Amid such reported lowering of ASF cases, Provincial Veterinarian Dr. Placeda Lemana said that they will remain vigilant.
“Even if the ASF cases there go up or down, our work will be the same,” Lemana said, noting that the ASF virus is not easily eliminated in an area.
She added that it is only the Regional Surveillance Unit of the Department of Agriculture that can declare if an area is already ASF-free, or that cases are going down.
Lemana also reported that the ASF task force is intensifying its surveillance in groceries and markets.
“We will pull out items deemed prohibited under our provincial ordinance. We will order the goods to be shipped back to source, or dispose of through burying or burning,” she said./GB
