Davao Occidental bans pork sale, hog trade

DISEASE ALERT Thousands of pigs in Davao Occidental will be culled as the province tries to stop the spread of the African swine fever. The provincial government and the Department of Agriculture have imposed a lockdown on the trade and movement of hogs and pork and its byproducts to eradicate the swine disease. —JOAN BONDOC

DAVAO CITY, Davao del Sur, Philippines — Davao Occidental Gov. Claude Bautista said the provincial government would buy all pigs from local hog raisers and cull them to eradicate the African swine fever (ASF) virus in the province.

According to Bautista, the local government is ready to pay the selling price, depending on size and weight, if only to eliminate the swine disease detected in the province for the first time last week follo¬wing the reported death of 1,000 pigs in Don Marcelino town.

“If they voluntarily surrender their hogs, the province will pay to completely eliminate the ASF problem in Davao Occidental,” he said, noting that hog raisers had already warmed up to the idea.

“I told [Agriculture Secretary William] Dar [that] we already have a contingency plan; we will pay for the [healthy] pigs,” said Bautista, who attended the launch of Davao City Disaster Radio here on Monday.

He said the Department of Agriculture (DA) would also pay for pigs that were confirmed to have been affected by the virus.

‘Lockdown’

Except for those which passed rigorous inspections, all pork and live hogs have been banned in Davao Occidental’s public markets, Bautista said.

“[There’s] no more pork on sale [at public markets] because I totally banned them. There’s a total lockdown in the pro¬vince as some cases were found in nearby towns,” he said.

He said the provincial board would convene to declare the province under a state of calamity because of the swine fever.

Aside from Don Marcelino town, ASF has also affected pigs in Malita and Santa Maria towns, the governor said.

Don Marcelino Mayor Michael Maruya earlier said the swine disease was detected in pigs in the villages of Linadasan, North Lamidan, South Lamidan, Calian, Mabuhay, Lawa, Nueva Villa and Baluntaya.

1-7-10 protocol

In Manila, Agriculture Secretary Dar said the DA would strictly implement the 1-7-10 protocol in Don Marcelino and in other areas affected by ASF.

“Depopulation of hogs within the 1-kilometer radius will be observed,” Dar said at a press briefing.

Under the protocol, all hogs within 1 km of the area where the disease was detected will be culled, while the movement, shipment and sale of those within 7 km will be limited. Monitoring will be done in areas within 10 km of ground zero.

“We will implement a total lockdown, where in there will be no transport and sale of hogs, pork and processed pork and byproducts in Don Marcelino and Malita [towns],” Dar said.

He said Davao Occidental’s inventory of 100,000 hogs was “not significant” in terms of the 12.8 million national swine population recorded in 2019.

“We are building scenarios on hog meat production, and we see poultry as a good substitute if supply of pork goes down, which has been the case for the last six months,” Dar said.

Precaution

In Davao City, Mayor Sara Duterte has also banned the entry of pork, pork products and live hogs from areas where confirmed and suspected ASF cases were reported as a precautionary measure.

Duterte said she met with the Davao City veterinarian and was informed of suspected ASF cases in Davao del Sur province.

“I will no longer wait for the results [of confirmatory tests]. I have already included Davao del Sur, along with Davao Occidental, in the entry ban of pork and pork products,” she said.