LGUs in E. Visayas, Luzon continue fight versus swine fever

VIGILANCE Local governments around the country have been monitoring their borders to prevent the entry of live hogs and pork products from provinces where the African swine fever virus has been detected. —JAM STA. ROSA

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte, Philippines — About P1.6 million worth of frozen meat products from Bulacan province were seized by the city government personnel in a checkpoint here last week.

Dr. Eunice Alcantara, city veterinarian, said the driver of the delivery van owned by a food company failed to present the necessary documents to transport meat products to the Eastern Visayas region, forcing them to confiscate the products.

Among the documents that the driver failed to present were the license to operate from the Food and Drug Administration, certificate of product registration, shipping permit and veterinary health certificate.

Alcantara said all that the driver showed was a copy of the delivery receipt which revealed that the products were from Bulacan.

For delivery

The frozen meat products were to be delivered to different establishments in the cities of Ormoc and Tacloban as well as to some areas in Mindanao.

The confiscated products were buried at the city’s sanitary landfill located in Barangay San Roque.

On Sept. 27, Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez issued Executive Order No. 19-09-6 which banned the entry of meat products from Luzon and other areas where cases of African swine fever were detected.

Tacloban and the rest of Eastern Visayas remained free of swine fever, a viral disease affecting domestic and wild pigs. The disease is not harmful to humans.

‘Lechon’ feasts

In Luzon, the capital town of Lingayen in Pangasinan province, and Pandi town and City of Meycauayan in Bulacan last week staged “lechon” (roast pig) festivals to assure the public that hogs raised in backyard farms in those areas were free of swine fever.

Aside from lechon, pork dishes like adobo, menudo and “lechon bagoong” (roast pig flavored with fish paste) were featured and served free to residents and visitors.

In Lingayen, the festival coincided with the address of Mayor Leopoldo Bataoil on his first 100 days in office. He earlier banned the entry of live pigs, frozen and processed pork products from other provinces.

He said the town should get its meat from local hog raisers and village officials must certify that pigs brought to slaughterhouses were sourced locally.

In case of shortage, Bataoil said the town could also get live pigs from nearby towns of Aguilar and Bugallon that veterinarians had certified as swine fever-free.

Lingayen was the third town in Pangasinan after Mangaldan and Pozorrubio to hold a festival meant to allay fears of consumers that the swine fever virus had infected local hogs.

Gov. Amado Espino III said the province had not recorded a case of swine fever as blood samples from some hogs at Barangay Baloling in Mapandan town tested negative for the virus.

In Bulacan, Mercy Chua, a pig farm owner, led her fellow hog raisers in the campaign to quell fears of eating pork due to swine fever. —With reports from Yolanda Sotelo and Carmela Reyes-Estrope