- CHERYL G. CRUZ
The Philippine Ports Authority Tuesday reminded the public that entry of pork and chicken products are prohibited in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental, and other areas, and will be confiscated at PPA-managed ports.
The PPA said that aside from the usual prohibited deadly weapons at ports, several goods or products will be subjected for confiscation per existing orders and guidelines from concerned local government units and national government agencies.
Bacolod and Negros Occidental have banned the entry of pork and chicken products from areas affected by the African swine fever and bird flu, to protect their billion-peso livestock/poultry industry.
Almost all major ports in the country also banned passengers from carrying pork and related products, like longanisa, tocino, siomai ham and bacon, as well as chicharon, with no proper documentation for shipment, and especially if they come from ASF-hit areas.
These include all ports with trips bound for Bacolod and Negros Occidental, the baseport in Dumaguete, ports of Siquijor and Larena, Batangas, Lucena, Calapan, and Matnog, among others.
In Masbate, the entry of live chicken is strictly prohibited, the PPA advisory said. “Pork meat from Cebu, Pilar, Pio Duran, and Lucena with no permit issued from the Authority is likewise prohibited.”
Mango should not be transported from the Port of Puerto Princesa to other destinations, while all ports in Bohol prohibit the entry of live pigs, including raw or cooked pork meat products, such as chicharon, chorizo, embutido, siomai, or lechon without complete documents from the agencies concerned.
For the PPA’s Port Management Office (PMO) Western Leyte/Biliran, live pigs, pork products and by-products, whether fresh, frozen, processed or cooked, including but not limited to frozen boar semen from areas with reported ASF are also banned.
Coconut seed nuts, seedlings, young coconut (buko), fresh parts of coconut tree and similar plants coming from Cavite, Batangas, Laguna, Quezon, and Bicol Region will also be confiscated in the Port of Ormoc, as well as plants and fruits coming from Luzon, without Plant Quarantine Shipping Permit, like mangosteen and lanzones; banana, hemp and other similar crops from Davao City, Davao Del Sur, Davao Del Norte, Compostela Valley, Bukidnon, and North and South Cotabato.
At the Cagayan de Oro Port, pork and chicken meats bound for Iloilo, Bacolod, Bohol and Cebu will likewise be confiscated, the PPA added.
There are 25 PMOs and more than 120 ports managed by the PPA. It added that it expects more than 2.2 million passengers this Holy Week observance, from the 1.3 million logged in the same period last year./CGC
