Angeles City sets up checkpoints vs African swine fever

ANGELES CITY, Pampanga — To keep this city free from the highly contagious African swine fever (ASF), the mayor ordered Thursday the establishment of livestock checkpoints along its borders.

Mayor Carmelo Lazatin Jr. issued a memorandum tasking the city police, headed by Colonel Amado Mendoza Jr., and the city traffic development office, headed by Francis Pangilinan, to immediately set up and man livestock checkpoints.

Delivery trucks, particularly those carrying pigs, will be inspected. Trucks loaded with livestock from ASF-affected areas like Bulacan and Batangas will be barred from entering this city.

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“This preventive measure is to ensure that the city is free from ASF. Because the health, safety, and livelihood of our citizens depend on this,” a city government statement quoted Lazatin as saying.

Lazatin said the city government is one with the Department of Agriculture in combating the rapid spread of ASF, as the department has already set up checkpoints across Luzon.

The mayor asked all hog dealers to present pertinent certificates manifesting that the pigs they are bringing into this city are not infected by ASF. He said vaccination records from veterinarians and shipping permits must also be presented at the livestock checkpoints.

Irish Calaguas, Lazatin’s chief adviser, said the city government would be vigilant against the deadly ASF.

“Mayor Lazatin wants to be as vigilant as ever. Angeles City is ASF-free, and Mayor Lazatin wants to keep it that way,” Calaguas said. INQ