BFAR: Marikina River negative for African swine fever

One of the pig carcasses found floating in the Marikina River. (Photo from Marikina City Public Information Office)

MANILA, Philippines — The Marikina City government headed off another potential crisis on Wednesday as it announced that Marikina River was uncontaminated by 65 dead pigs that had been found floating in its waters since September.

Water samples taken by the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) were negative for the African swine fever virus, it said, prompting Mayor Marcelino Teodoro to lift a fishing ban he had imposed in the wake of the bizarre incident.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, which tested the samples from the LLDA, informed Teodoro that fish from the river was safe for consumption even though pollutants in its waters had increased slightly due to “higher biochemical oxygen demand.”

The level of these pollutants—Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli—were still well below the regulatory limit of the Food and Drug Administration, Teodoro said.

A third pollutant that BFAR had tested the samples for, salmonella, was absent. —Matthew Reysio-Cruz