The Negros Occidental and Bacolod City Joint African Swine Fever Task Force will stop all attempts to bring in live pigs, boar semen, pork and pork products from places affected with ASF, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson vowed on Tuesday, October 18.
“Apprehensions will be made for as long as they try to bring such products in”, he said.
It took some people by surprise but they had to react right away because it is very important to protect the province’s P6 billion swine industry, Lacson said, of the province’s recent ban on such products from Panay and Guimaras.
The joint task force will keep a close watch of the BREDCO port and other points of entry, he said.
ASF is a highly contagious disease of swine with an up to 100 percent fatality rate, there being no known treatment and vaccine available.
The disease is transmitted through direct contact with infected animals, fomites and ingestion of ASF-contaminated feeds and food wastes.
The Department of Agriculture has confirmed that 53 provinces, 704 cities and municipalities, and 3,832 barangays in the Philippines have had ASF cases.
On October 1, the Provincial Veterinary Office of Iloilo reported its first suspected ASF case in Oton, lloilo, Lacson said
OIC-Provincial Veterinarian, Dr. Placeda Lemana, said the ASF team seized P20,000 worth of pork products from Iloilo at the BREDCO Port during the weekend, which were returned to the shippers.*