Nine pigs have tested positive for the highly contagious and deadly African swine fever (ASF) in Victorias City, which include seven from Hinigaran town that were delivered to the slaughterhouse of Victorias Foods Corporation (VFC).
Mayor Javier Miguel Benitez and Dr. John Michael Cabuguason, city veterinarian, announced the detection of the nine ASF cases at a press conference at the Victorias City Hall on Tuesday, June 6.
“This is not a public health concern, this is an economic concern. What we are doing is being transparent and at the same time protecting the industry and our farmers,” Benitez said.
“We need to be transparent and aboveboard about this,” he said, pointing out that Victorias City has a P16 million hog industry.
Benitez said of the 1,584 pigs in Victorias City, they are happy to announce that 1,425 have been insured with the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation.
The mayor said the city government is exploring options on how to minimize the impact of the pig deaths on the livelihood of hog raisers in Victorias city.
Alternative livelihoods are being explored, Benitez said.
Benitez said declaring a state of calamity will be taken into consideration as the impact of the pig deaths is huge for farmers who are solely dependent on them for their livelihood.
Cabuguason said 15 sows from Barangay Anahaw, Hinigaran, were delivered to the VFC slaughterhouse on June 2 and seven were found positive for ASF.
The ASF cases were detected because as part of the animal disease surveillance of the city they collect samples for testing, he said.
The samples were also sent to the Regional Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Iloilo on Monday for confirmatory tests and positive results for ASF came out Tuesday morning, Cabuguason said.
VFC was ordered to stop slaughtering at its abattoir until the area is disinfected, the city veterinarian said.
“Immediate containment of infected pork products in the slaughterhouse of VFC was implemented. The carcasses and organs were condemned and properly disposed, the whole area was disinfected,” the city veterinarian said.
Only the 15 pigs were at the VFC slaughterhouses on June 2 and no meat went to Victorias markets, so they were not able to infect other animals, he said
Benitez said he informed Hinigaran Mayor Nadie Arceo about the pigs from his town that tested positive for ASF.
On Monday, June 5 two pigs from a backyard farm in Barangay 5, Victorias City, also tested positive for ASF.
This was the first case of locally transmitted ASF, Cabuguason said.
Ten other pigs at the farm also died and were properly disposed, he said.
The backyard pig farm is located in a scrap collection area and did not have any biosecurity measures, he said.
They are investigating the source of the ASF but there are no other swine farms within the 500-meter radius of ground zero, he said.
Barangay biosecurity task forces have been activated for pig surveillance to contain the spread of hog illnesses, Cabuguason said.*