Negros Occidental is prohibiting the entry of pork and live pigs from Eastern Visayas, or Region 8, after the first case of African swine fever (ASF) in the Visayas was confirmed in Abuyog town, Leyte.
Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, in a memorandum issued today, January 18, directed all the local chief executives and the ASF Task Force, to ban the entry of live pigs, boar semen, pork, pork products, and other pork-related food items from Region 8.
He said that they have to “ensure the implementation of preventive and safeguard measures” as embodied in the Provincial Ordinance No. 2018-024, or the “ASF Prevention Ordinance of Negros Occidental.”
He added that it was stipulated in the provincial ASF ordinance that other areas may be covered once affected by ASF.
Pork and pork products from ASF-affected areas such as Luzon and Mindanao were already banned in the province since the start of the ASF outbreak in 2019.
“Such incidence of ASF poses a great threat to the province, being one of the major producers and gateway of live pigs being supplied to Luzon, Central and Eastern Visayas,” Lacson said in the memorandum.
Region 8 is comprised of Biliran, Eastern Samar, Northern Samar, Southern Leyte provinces.*