- GILBERT BAYORAN
The vast shorelines of Negros Occidental is also being closely monitored and guarded by the joint ASF task force of Negros Occidental and Bacolod City, aside from ports, to prevent the entry of live pigs and pork-related products from neighboring islands, Provincial Veterinarian, Dr. Placeda Lemana, said Tuesday, Nov. 8.
Last week, barangay officials and personnel of the Provincial Veterinary Office, as well as the Municipal Agriculturist Office, intercepted five kilos of raw pork from Tapaz, Capiz, that was brought by a woman for guests attending a wake in Sitio Panaosawon, Brgy. Tuburan in EB Magalona.
The city government of Bacolod also augmented the provincial ASF task force with 40 job order workers and 10 police officers to guard the two main docks of the city, the Banago and Bredo ports.
“It’s very helpful that we now have the cooperation of the Bacolod City government,” Leman said.
Members of the joint ASF task force thoroughly check the bags and even lunch boxes of travellers from fastcrafts and Roll-on, Roll-off vessels from Panay Island, Lemana said.
African swine fever cases have been detected in five municipalities of Iloilo already, and this prompted the joint ASF task force in Negros Occidental and Bacolod to not take any chances.
Lemana reported that 128.12 kilos, or 200 packs of processed pork from Iloilo and Pampanga, were confiscated at the Bacolod-Silay Airport, and the Bredco and Banago ports.
Aside from ports in Bacolod and the shorelines of the province, they are also monitoring the piers in EB Magalona, Pulupandan, San Carlos, Cadiz, Escalante, and Sagay, to ensure that Negros Occidental remains free of the dreaded swine disease, she added.
Lemana also noted that shipment of boars for reproduction can trigger rapid transmission of ASF.
With pork sold at P150 per kilo in Iloilo, Lemana raised the possibility that it may enter neighboring areas, including Negros Occidental./GB
